The Secret Admirer
by Serpentarrow
Summary: Highschool AU - Katniss notices that Clove glares at her and really seems to hate her. But Katniss keeps getting these really deep and sweet love notes from a secret admirer. Everything gets revealed soon after.
1. Chapter 1

_AN: I've got most of this fic written already. Was taking a break from Tied Together to work on this prompt so once I've finished writing the last chapter of this I'll work on Tied Together again. Will be attempting to post one chapter a day and it will be about 8 chapters long._

_Prompt from tumblr user The-real-poetic-rambler - __Kat notices that Clove glares at her and really seems to hate her. But Kat keeps getting these really deep and sweet love notes from a secret admirer. Everything gets revealed soon after._

* * *

I walk through the halls on my way to my locker. I have English next, another lesson of having that girl, Clove, glaring at the back of my head as if she'd like to kill me. I wouldn't be surprised if she did, she is often seen beating the shit out of people in the hallways.

I shudder, having her glaring at me all the time is not a good thing, after all there's a rumour going around school that the dark haired girl is an accomplished knife thrower and I'm pretty sure it's true. You just don't want to be on the wrong side of the deceptively small girl or it could get you in trouble.

I sigh when I see her near my locker; she shoots a glare my way as she watches me approach. I glance at her to find her smirking at me in a self-satisfied way before she walks off. The crowd parts for the smaller girl, knowing better than to get in Clove's way.

I sigh shaking my head wondering what I ever did to get her to hate me so much. I open my locker and find a piece of paper has been slipped inside it. A small smile graces my lips and I unfold the piece of paper and read the note which is written in distinctive messy writing.

_Katniss_

_You are the most gorgeous person to ever walk the earth. My love for you is so strong that I can barely contain it. Just a look from you is enough to cause my heart to feel as if it is exploding within my chest. When I see your beautiful eyes on me I find myself unable to do anything but stare._

_I want you to know that even if you don't know who I am that I am yours. Your laughter sounds like the music of the gods. I wish I could be the one to cause your laugh just once, when I hear it I just want to cross the room and take your lips in mine. _

_I know you don't know who I am and I'm sorry I cannot step forward, when I see you and try to actually talk to you nervousness swirls inside me and I find myself immobilised. How is it that you have this power over me? How do you cause these feelings to erupt inside me? Sometimes I wonder if I should hate you for it but I will never be able to hate you. I love you. _

_Forever Yours_

_C_

I smile as I read the note, I can feel a blush forming on my cheeks. I've been receiving these notes for the past couple of months and have yet to figure out who C is. Whoever they are they're very sweet and I find I get butterflies in my stomach when I think of the possibility of meeting them.

The bell rings and I look up abruptly, cursing myself for getting distracted I grab my English text book and shove the note into my pocket as I slam my locker shut. I run the short distance to the lesson, hoping that the teacher is late as usual so I can sneak in without getting detention.

I'm not paying much attention to where I'm going and just as I reach the door I crash into someone and fall to the floor. "Ouch, watch it!" I look up at the voice and recognise Clove, she's sprawled out on the floor and rubbing the back of her head, her eyes screwed shut. It dawns on me that this is probably the first thing she's ever actually said to me.

"Erm sorry…" I say and she pauses, slowly opening her eyes. She stares at me with a startled expression on her face and I notice her dark eyes are actually a green colour. We stare at each other blankly for a few moments before her expression is replaced by its usual glare.

She stands abruptly and storms through the door as if she cannot stand to be in my presence. I shrug and follow her cautiously.

It looks like I'm out of luck today as I enter the room to find our teacher, Miss Coin, is on time for once. She glares at me, angered even more by the fact that two students are late. I suppress the urge to roll my eyes. Coin is almost always late, why are teachers such hypocrites?

We're both given detention after school, I notice Clove tense up and glare at the teacher. "That's bullshit." She growls folding her arms. He class looks on in interest, knowing that Clove is likely to create an entertaining scene that will save them from a few minutes of having to study Shakespeare.

"What did you say?" The older woman fumes, her lips forming a straight line as she stares at Clove challengingly.

"You're always late for class, I don't see anyone giving you detention." Clove remarks coolly, my lips twitch in amusement as I try to keep a straight face, Clove's got a point there. Suddenly the older woman is towering over Clove which is impressive considering Coin is one of the shortest teachers unfortunately for Clove, Clove is probably the shortest student and Coin is taller than her by a few inches.

"I am a teacher!" She snaps, Clove simply raises an eyebrow, keeping her cool while the old woman stands there fuming.

"And you're always late." Clove says calmly, her eyes gleaming with amusement. The teacher storms over to her desk and Clove smirks knowing she's won. I'm unable to keep the amused smile of my face Miss Coin is nobodies favourite teacher, she's unfair and easily angered, watching Clove get the better of her is always amusing.

Unfortunately when Coin turns around she sees my amusement. "And what's so funny?" She asks angrily. I take a step back.

"Nothing ma'am." I say, forcing the smile off my face. The woman strides over to me her eyes glistening evilly, she can see that I'm more easily intimidated than Clove.

"Oh is that so? Then perhaps you would like to explain why you were grinning in my class."

I shrug not knowing how to answer. My eyes drift over to Clove who's gone to sit at the back of the class and is watching the scene with a dark expression on her face. Probably relishing in my discomfort.

"Sorry ma'am." I say quickly.

"Take your seat." The woman hisses and I scurry to my seat next to my friend Gale. He gives me an amused look and subtlety elbows me. I roll my eyes and share a smile with him making sure that Coin doesn't notice.

"So why were you late?" Gale asks through a mouthful of burger, I pull a face in disgust. It's lunch time now and we're sitting in the cafeteria.

"God Gale, don't talk with your mouth full!" I exclaim chucking a napkin at him when I notice him spill ketchup down himself. "No one wants to see that." Why are guys so disgusting when it comes to food? I roll my eyes when Gale wipes the ketchup up and chucks the napkin back at me a playful grin on his face.

"You're not telling me why you were late." He grins lopsidedly. I turn away looking at my own burger. I know there's a blush on my face that is telling him the exact reason why I was late for Coin's lesson. "You get another note?" He asks, nudging me playfully.

I blush harder and take a bite of my burger, pointedly ignoring him. "Let's see then." He holds out a hand and I roll my eyes and I pull the note out of my pocket and place it in his hand.

"Don't get ketchup on it."

"Why? You still keeping all of them?" He laughs and makes a point of almost dipping the note into a dollop of ketchup. I lunge for the note.

"If you're going to mess it up you can give it back." I say causing him to laugh.

"Alright Catnip chill." He laughs, elbowing me, as he unfolds the note carefully. He takes a few moments to read the note. "Seriously is this guy for real?" He remarks shoving the note back into my hands.

"Maybe they're not a guy." I mutter hopefully and Gale rolls his eyes. I've never been that attracted to guys and it would be awkward I it turns out that C is a guy.

"Fine whatever…Who do think it is?" He asks his eyes scanning the cafeteria. I shrug and join him in surveying our surroundings. I pause when I spot Clove glaring at me from the corner, for god's sake what is her problem? I have literally never done anything to her why does she hate me so much?

I meet her eyes in irritation and she raises an eyebrow her eyes flicking to Gale before turning to her food. I notice she's alone as usual. No one ever wants to associate with Clove. Everyone's scared of her and for good reason.

My eyes find the cheerleaders table. The cheer squad is led by Glimmer and she rarely lets anyone that isn't in the cheer squad sit at that table. My eyes scan over the girls, taking note of their names. Only Cashmere has a name that starts with the letter C and I know she has a boyfriend so that rules her out for being my secret admirer.

I see the footballers Cato, Marvel, Brutus and Gloss. I shudder at the thought of my admirer being Cato, I think he's going out with Glimmer anyway so it can't be him. I'm glad of that ,I've heard Cato is the kind of guy who doesn't take no for an answer.

I continue surveying the cafeteria, looking closer at people whose name I know starts with C. Eventually I find that I rule everyone out. This has become a daily ritual for me. Trying to figure out who it is that writes those notes that and make my heart do a backflip when I read them and ruling everyone out

The next lesson I receive a detention slip telling me exactly when and where I will serve my detention for being late to English. I sigh when I see that I have to stay after school today for an hour.

The day passes quickly and I ask Gale to tell my mother where I am on his way home. It's mostly so my little sister won't be worried. My mother doesn't really care much where I am.

I stop by my locker on my way to the detention room to drop off my heavy books and I'm pleased to find another note has been poked into it. I glance at the clock and decide to read it after detention as I don't want to be late again.

There's only two other students in the room when I enter, including Clove who sits at the back of the room scowling at the ceiling. She glances at me when I enter and purses her lips in irritation. I sigh and turn to the teacher at the front of the room, I recognise him as Mr Abernathy, the alcoholic History teacher, holding up my detention slip in explanation as to why I'm here. He nods, putting a tick by my name on his list of people who are to attend detention and points to a seat in the back two chairs away from Clove.

I sit down where he told me to, purposely refusing to look at Clove, I can feel her eyes on me, I bite my lip and stare at my hands. Her constant glaring is starting to get to me. I hear a huff and chance a look at the girl, she turns away from me and glares at the teacher at the front of the room, her lips pursed, she looks like she's ready to kill someone.

A boy enters the room and tells the teacher his name. Once he's seated Abernathy stands. He pulls out a box of paper and starts handing out sheets. "Clove and Katniss will write the lines I will not be late for class 500 times. Johanna and will write an essay on why you must not start fights and Finnick will write the lines the school is not a place for physical intimacy 500 times." He instructs in a bored voice. "If anyone needs me I will be in my office, do not leave this room, no talking, you know the rules." He sighs and leaves.

I hesitantly pick up a pen and write the words I will not be late for class a couple of times. "You're not actually going to write those lines are you?" I look up to find an older girl with dark hair that has a red streak through it towering above me.

"Er…"

"You know it's not like they ever check whether you write what you're supposed to." She gives me a smirk and pulls out the chair in the desk in front of me and sits down facing me. "So why are you here, late for class? Seems a bit harsh."

"It was Coin's class." I tell her and she nods in understanding.

"Coin's a bitch." She states. I hear a snort beside me and glance at Clove.

"You can say that again." She says nodding towards the older girl.

"And why are you here Clove?"

Clove turns her glare to me "Same reason as her." She mutters before turning to the paper in front of her and scribbling a few things down, determinedly ignoring everyone else. The older girl sighs before turning to me.

"And that's all we'll get out of her for the rest of detention. I'm Johanna by the way, Johanna Mason." She smirks at me.

"Katniss Everdeen." I mumble unsurely.

"You know that's all she does when she's in detention." Johanna says nodding towards Clove, whose gripping her pen so tightly that her knuckles have turned white. "Just scribbles on that piece of paper, she sure as hell isn't writing those lines. Won't let anyone read it though, takes it with her, go figure." She shrugs sending me a grin.

I hear a laugh and a handsome boy approaches us sitting in the chair next to me. "Leave Clove alone Jo." He says, "Besides you ask the newcomer why she's here and forget to ask me, I'm insulted." He feigns a look of hurt and Johanna rolls her eyes.

"It's not like I have to guess Finnick, You get caught making out with Annie again?" She asks, leaning on my desk lazily.

"Of course." He sighs and slumps on the desk. "What about you? Who'd you beat up this time?"

"Oh just some footballer." She says shrugging, Finnick laughs.

"The one that's always trying to get with you?"

"Yep." She nods. "He won't be trying that anymore."

Finnick erupts in laughter. I watch awkwardly as the two interact, they obviously know each other quite well. My eyes drift over to Clove who is sitting completely still glaring at the piece of paper.

"So Clove what _are_ you writing in these oh so frequent detentions?" Johana asks turning to the girl.

"Fuck off Johanna." Clove snarls and within moments Johanna is towering above her.

"Excuse me, I was just trying to bring you into the conversation." She says sarcastically. Clove glares up at her.

"And I said fuck off." Clove says clearly. I am shocked that Johanna is daring to pick fights with Clove. I've never seen anyone dare talk to Clove like that.

"Leave her alone Jo." Finnick sighs. "Must we go through this every detention?" He rolls his eyes turning to me. "Don't worry it always get close to a fight but they'd never actually fight here, too risky." His eyes flick to the door and I nod in understanding,

Briefly I wonder what would happen if a fight did break out, I've never seen Clove lose a fight and she gets into quite a few in the halls but Johanna seems to be the type that'd be able to take her.

"What if I don't want to leave her alone?" She leans in close to Clove. "What if I stay right here?" She smirks at the smaller girl whose hands are curling into fists.

"Then I might have to break your fucking nose." Clove growls dangerously. I know that tone it is always the tone she uses before beating the shit out of someone, no matter what Finnick has said I can feel a fight brewing under the surface.

"Oh yeah? I'd like to see you try."

Suddenly Clove has flown at Johanna her fist connecting with her cheek. She grabs the older girl by the scruff of the neck and pulls her face up close to hers. "Fuck off." She growls before releasing the girl and sitting back down.

"Johanna stop…" Finnick tries to placate Johanna but she's giving a feral grin and flings herself at Clove easily throwing her off the chair.

Before I know it a full-fledged fight had broken out. The girls seem to be evenly matched. If Johanna thought that Clove would be an easy target she was definitely mistaken. The two fight furiously and tables start to be thrown aside as the two throw punches at each other, some missing and some finding their mark. Johanna manages to get Clove in a headlock but she somehow manages to slip out of it.

"What is going on here?" I turn to the door and spot Abernathy glaring at us angrily, his eyes slightly bleary showing that he's probably been drinking. "I leave you with specific instructions and come back to this?" He growls grabbing Johanna and Clove by the scruffs of their necks and pulling them apart.

He shoves them towards their respective seats. "You two have just earned yourselves another detention and you Finnick, back to your assigned seat."

"Sorry sir." Finnick says giving the man a winning smile, probably hoping to make him calm down. The teacher simply glares at him as he takes a seat.

Clove huffs in irritation as she strides over to her seat, stopping only to pick up the piece of paper covered in writing that had been knocked onto the floor. "If I find you out of your seats again then you'll receive detention for the rest of your school careers." He growls before leaving the room.

"Heh, so you're not actually a bad fighter." Clove looks up when Johanna speaks holding her gaze as Johanna leans back in her seat nodding towards the smaller girl. "You've got guts Clove, I like that." She laughs and gets up crossing the room and sitting next to Finnick. Clove huffs again before picking up her pen and continuing to write.


	2. Chapter 2

It's not until I get home that I remember the note that I've yet to read in my pocket. I sit down on my bed and pull it out of my pocket.

_Katniss_

_I heard about the detention you got from Coin. I just wanted to say that Coin is an idiot for putting you in detention. She had no right to give you an after school detention just for being late, especially since she's always late. I just thought you might want to know that someone's on your side._

_Forever Yours_

_C_

I read the note over and over again, smiling slightly. I pull out a box from underneath my bed and put the two notes that I received that day into it with the others I've received.

I sigh as I lie back in my bed, covering my face with my hands as I think about the person who is sending me such sweet notes. I really want to know who it is, closing my eyes I try to imagine what C might look like but find myself coming up with nothing.

A knock sounds at my door and I get up to open it. "Hey Katniss." My little sister smiles up at me I return the smile. "I wondered if you could help me with my maths homework." She holds up a little blue notebook and I nod.

"Sure little duck." I say, using the nickname I gave her when she first started school and didn't tuck in the back of her shirt making her look like she had a ducks tail. "'I'll be there in a moment." I turn to shove the box of notes back under my bed but Prim stops me.

"Did you get another one today?" She asks her blue eyes glistening. I blush and nod, she grins and hold out her hand. "Can I read it?" She asks.

I blush harder "I got two today." I tell her, refusing to look at her in case she sees my blush. Prim gasps.

"Let's see then." She laughs bouncing onto my bed. I roll my eyes playfully and open the box, taking the top two and handing them to her. Prim reads them quickly as I sit next to her. "You're blushing." She points out, I turn away from her.

"No I'm not." I deny, she just laughs at me.

"You really like this person." She states giving me a knowing grin. I shrug in response.

"I guess, I mean they're really sweet but I don't know who they are. I don't even know their name."

"Have you tried watching your locker to see who it I that puts the notes in there?" Prim asks and I nod remembering when I'd spent every second of my breaks hiding around the corner waiting for someone to put a note in my locker but nothing had happened.

"Come on, I'll help you with your homework." I say taking the notes back off of her and stashing them back into my box. Prim nods and opens her notebook. I spend the rest of the evening helping Prim and it's late by the time I can get to bed. I yawn and collapse onto my bed, my eyes closing instantly.

I end up waking up late the next day. When I realise what time it is I sit up abruptly, I'm half an hour late. Swearing I spring out of bed rushing to get dressed and brush my hair. There's no time to put it into its usual braid. I brush my teeth and run downstairs. My mother stares at me blankly as I scramble past her grabbing my bag.

I rush out of the house, deciding I don't have time for breakfast and sprint towards my school. I don't make it far as my lungs scream out for air. I stop and lean against a fence gasping for breath. I hear a front door open and slam shut. Cautiously I glance towards the direction of the sound.

Clove pauses when she sees me. She raises an eyebrow as she moves over to the garage and opens it. A few seconds late she's pulling a motorbike out of the garage. She glares at me for a few seconds before she speaks. "You need a ride?" She asks, indicating to the motorbike.

"Er…" I warily eye the vehicle, I've never been on a motorbike before and Clove hates me, I have no idea why she'd offer this. I glance at my watch and grimace. I'm already late I don't want to make it worse. "Erm if that's ok…"

Clove simply snorts and disappears into the garage returning with a leather jacket as well as a spare helmet, she tosses the jacket at me and I catch it haphazardly as she places the spare helmet the stone fence post.

She pulls on her own helmet and I stare at her dumbly. "Well put them on." She says impatiently I can feel her glare on me as I scramble to pull on the protective clothing. I wonder why she's doing this as I put the helmet on and cautiously approach the motorbike that she's already climbed on.

It takes a few minutes but I finally manage to scramble onto it. I sit there awkwardly for a few moments before Clove sighs. "You're going to have to hold on to me." She says and I nod, I can feel a blush forming on my cheeks and I'm not sure why but I'm glad she can't see it. I put my arms around her waist. "Ready?"

"Y...Yes…" I stutter and suddenly the bike is zooming off. I clench my teeth to stop myself to yelping and grip her tighter. This is terrifying, I find myself screwing my eyes shut and leaning against her back as I try my best not to scream.

The bike slows and I look up noticing that we're at some traffic lights that are currently red. "You alright back there?" She asks.

"Yep." I lie, trying not to let my voice shake, I need to get to school and this may be the most terrifying experience of my life but it will certainly get me there quickly.

"Good." The light turns amber and then green and the bike accelerates forwards.

It's a few more minutes before she stops again, I keep my eyes screwed shut and continue to cling to her waiting for the bike to start moving again. "You can let go now, we're here." She says awkwardly. I open my eyes and see that we're outside the school. I unsurely release my hold of her and slide off the bike.

Awkwardly I remove the helmet and hand it to her. She loops it onto her arm and before I can remove the jacket she's driven off towards the car park. I shrug and decide to give her back the jacket later.

As I walk towards school I notice that I've missed the first two lessons and it is now morning break. People stare at me as I walk past them. I keep my head down and approach my locker. "Woah Katniss, you look...Completely different today..." Gale says when he sees me. I look up at him as he glances between the leather jacket I'm still wearing and my hair that's not in its usual braid.

"I got a ride." I shrug indicating to the jacket as I open my locker. I'm disappointed to find that my secret admirer has not left another note but I shrug it off as I gather up the books I need for the day. Maybe they saw that I wasn't in and thought I was off sick.

"A ride from who?" Gale asks in surprise. "I'm the only person you ever talk to." He laughs. That moment I spot Clove walking around the corner, a familiar scowl on her face as she storms over to her locker.

Cautiously I remove the jacket and approach her. "Erm…Thanks for the ride…" I say awkwardly as I hand the jacket over to her. She glares at me for a few seconds before raising an eyebrow not taking the jacket.

"Keep it, I'll give you a ride home I don't want to have to carry that helmet all the way back." She says coolly before turning away and proceeding to ignore me. I blink slowly, taken aback by her sudden change in demeanour. I suppose this is typical Clove behaviour, I should be glad she's not decided she hates me enough to beat the crap out of me yet.

"Ok, I guess I'll see you after school then." I say unsurely she nods before walking off abruptly.

"You're not actually going to let Clove give you a ride home are you? She hates you. You're lucky she actually took you to school and didn't dump you in the middle of nowhere." Gale says behind me. I turn to him and shrug.

"She seemed ok." I shrug unsurely, wondering whether or not I should actually get on that motorbike again. I sigh, the problem is you don't just go against Clove. My mind drifts to the fight I'd witnessed during detention, well you don't go against Clove unless you're someone like Johanna. The bell rings and I follow Gale to Maths class.

My classes pass slowly. I get shouted at for skipping my first two lessons and get myself another detention for tomorrow after school and I'm told a letter will be sent home to my mother. I shrug, it's not like mother gives a damn whether or not I get a detention.

After school I return to my locker to drop off some of my books. My face pales slightly when I see the leather jacket shoved into my locker causing me to remember that Clove is giving me a ride home today.

I bite my lip and look around the hall, I can see Clove watching me with her usual glare that she seems to sport every time she looks at me. I sigh realising there's no getting out of this and I pull the jacket out of the locker.

A piece of paper falls to the ground and I grin as I reach down to pick it up knowing exactly what it is. I unfold it and read it quickly.

_Katniss_

_You look absolutely stunning with your hair down of course I think you're beautiful no matter what you do with your hair. I hope to speak to you soon, to hear the sound of your wonderful voice as you talk to me. Perhaps I'll be able to make you laugh, I can only hope. The thought of hearing your laugh and knowing that I was the one that caused it causes my heart to soar. _

_I love you, Katniss, I will always love you no matter what. I have fallen for you and I have barely spoken to you but every slight interaction we have, even if it is only when our eyes meet for the briefest of seconds causes me joy that I know nothing else will ever give me. _

_Forever Yours_

_C_

I re-read the note a few times, my eyes lingering on the words 'I hope to speak to you soon.' My heart skips a beat wondering if my secret admirer is planning on revealing who they are. I bite my lip nervously and glance around the packed hall.

"You ready?" I jump and turn to see Clove standing next to me a scowl on her face looking displeased at being kept waiting. I nod quickly pulling on the leather jacket.

"Yeah." She rolls her eyes shoving the helmet I wore earlier into my hands before turning and walking off. I gulp and follow her only because I don't really like the idea of the injuries that I'd obtain for going against her.

She leads me to the car park where her motorbike sits waiting. She puts on her own helmet and climbs on. I glance around noticing that a lot of people have stopped to watch the scene, many are whispering among themselves. Clove does not usually give rides especially not to people like me.

I put the helmet on hating the attention I'm suddenly getting from everyone and climb onto the motor bike suddenly wanting nothing more than to get out of here. "Ready?" Clove asks as I wrap my arms around her waist and screw my eyes shut to prepare myself from the terrifying speed of the motorbike.

"Yeah." I tell her and the bike zooms off. I think that I'm starting to get used to the speed and I open my eyes only to close them again at the sight of the world speeding by. We stop at a couple of lights but I refuse to open my eyes, I just cling onto the girl in front of me and pretend I'm somewhere else.

The bike slows to a stop. "Well…we're back at my house…Do you…Do you want to come in for a bit?" Clove asks, I open my eyes cautiously.

"Er…I should probably get home." I say clambering off the bike. "But I can walk from here." I take off the helmet and offer it to her, she doesn't move and I can't see her face through her own helmet.

"Just for a little while." She insists as she climbs off the bike and pushes it towards her garage. I bite my lip, what is going on here? Clove hates me, but she's suddenly giving me rides and asking me to go into her house. She removes her helmet and puts it with her bike in the garage, grabbing mine and putting it next to it.

She turns to me and stares at me with an unreadable expression. I twiddle my thumbs anxiously trying to make a decision. Should I just run home from here and possibly incur her wrath? Or should I go in with her.

"Ok…" I say eventually and she gives a small smile that is so un-Clovelike that it makes me pause for a moment. She leads me over to the door and opens it gesturing that I should enter. I stand there awkwardly for a moment before taking a deep breath and entering the unfamiliar house.

Clove shows me to her room, I glance around I'm not sure what I expected. My eyes land warily on the collection of throwing knives on one wall by a computer desk that is covered in pieces of paper and pens and has a black laptop shoved to one side. A bed is pushed up against one corner and has a dark blue and black duvet. I count 3 bookcases filled to the brim with various books and pieces of paper litter the floor.

Clove coughs awkwardly and quickly gathers the paper up shoving it to the side and placing her laptop on top of it. "It's just stuff I wrote…" She mumbles not looking at me.

"So the rumours are true then?" I ask nodding awkwardly to the throwing knife collection. "You throw knives."

She shrugs and gently picks up one of the knives. "A bit in my spare time." She shrugs. "Wanna see?" She stares at me with a raised eyebrow and I nod unsurely hoping that I won't be the target. "OK stay over there." She turns and throws the knife towards a target board that I hadn't noticed before. The knife hits dead centre and she walks over to retrieve it.

"Wow." I say, she shrugs turning away and if it wasn't Clove I would've sworn I could see a slight blush on her cheeks. We stand in awkward silence for a while before I decide to speak again. "So why did you want to bring me here?" I ask trying to sound casual.

She shrugs. "Just wanted to hang out with you I guess." She mutters, I frown at her answer. Why would she want to hang out with me? I'm not anyone special and she hates me.

"But you hate me." I blurt out, she looks at me her eyes wide and becomes very still. I immediately regret blurting out that sentence as my eyes flick to the knife still in her hand. She sighs and shoves the knife back on the wall.

"I don't hate you." She says quietly, refusing to look at me.

"How come you're always glaring at me then?" I ask in confusion, she turns to me her eyes staring deep into mine as if searching for something. For some reason my heart speeds up when I stare into her eyes. I shake my head to clear it of the fuzziness that seems to have filled it.

"I'm sorry." She turns away and shrugs. "I never meant to glare." I think I can see a look of amusement on her face but I shake it off. This is to confusing, why is Clove acting so differently?

"Ok…" I glance at my watch. "Look I really should be getting home…" She nods.

"I'll give you a ride." She offers I shake my head frantically; I really don't want to get on that thing again, at least not today.

"The motorbike…It's kinda scary…" I say lamely, I wait for her to laugh but she just rolls her eyes.

"Alright, let me walk with you then." She says playfully, this is a tone I never thought I'd hear coming from the surly Clove.

"Erm…Ok." I agree unsurely and she grins her eyes lighting up until her expression is replaced by her usual one.

We walk together as I lead her towards The Seam. Briefly I wonder what she thinks of this, people from The Seam like me and Gale are often looked down upon by the other kids at school as well everyone else in Panem. The Seam in the poorest part of Panem and it's mostly coal miners and that live there.

My father was a coal miner before he died, when he died my mother stopped caring about much. Luckily she recovered enough to run the pharmacy in the town centre so we don't have to starve.

Clove thankfully doesn't comment as we walk through the battered houses of The Seam. She merely glances over the house with a blank expression on her face stopping only to tie her shoelace which has come undone.

"So whereabouts is it you live?" She asks casually.

I point further down the street. "Just down here." She follows me down the street to the house right at the end and I stop and indicate to it. "This is where I live." I state lamely, not looking at her. She stares at the beaten down house for a long moment.

"Nice." She says with a slight amount of sarcasm in her voice and I can't help the snort of laughter that escapes my mouth. The Seam houses are not nice and neither is mine. She gives me an unsure smile. "Sorry."

"It's ok…I know it's not much…" We stare at each other awkwardly for a few moments.

"Will you walk with me tomorrow?" Clove asks suddenly, I tilt my head to the side in confusion and open my mouth to reply but she holds up her hands. "No motorbikes. Just meet me at my house at 7:00 and we'll walk together?" She gives me an unsure smile and I find myself nodding dumbly. She grins and says she'll see me tomorrow before turning and striding off.

Shit, did I just agree to walk with Clove to school? I watch as she walks away, finding myself unable to take my eyes off her. She is definitely acting strangely and I briefly wonder if this is all part of some cruel joke. Shaking my head in confusion I enter my house, it's not until I've entered my room that I realise that I'm still wearing Clove's jacket.

I shrug taking it off, I'll return it to her tomorrow, I lie down on my bed and try to clear my mind of thoughts of Clove, maybe she's just got fed up of being alone all the time, maybe she just wants a friend. I frown when my heart aches at this thought but shake it off. What the hell is going on with me today?


	3. Chapter 3

I spend an unusually long amount of time fixing my hair the next morning. I try to tell myself that all this work is for my secret admirer but can't help the small voice in my head that says that I'm doing this because I'll be walking to school with Clove this morning.

I push that voice down not wanting to dwell on the strange feelings that seem to surround the smaller girl. Clove is a thug I tell myself, always beating the crap out of anyone in her way. She's feared in school and I shouldn't be getting these weird feelings when I think about her.

I walk towards Clove's house, shivering in the cold February air, I couldn't afford to buy a jacket for school this year and I gave my old one to Prim since she'd grown out of hers. I reach Clove's house and knock at the door. A large man answers the door and stares at me with hard eyes. "Who're you?" He asks gruffly.

"That's Katniss, I'm walking with her today." Clove appears behind him, a black backpack slung over her shoulder and her long hair done up in its trademark ponytail. The man who I assume is Clove's dad snorts and walks further into the house as Clove exits closing the door behind her.

She smirks at me as she does up her leather jacket and I bite my lip wondering if she is planning on riding on the motorbike to school again. Suddenly I remember that I'm holding her spare jacket under my arm and I hold it out to her. "Here, I forgot to give this back." She raises and eyebrow at me when the wind blows causing me to shiver, she shakes he head.

"You don't have a jacket, it's cold, keep it." She says before taking off down the street. I follow her quickly gratefully pulling the jacket on, I'm not sure why but my stomach is fluttering and my heart is beating rapidly in my chest. It seemed that Clove is not as heartless as everyone thinks she is.

I'm surprised when Clove gets to the end of the street and turns left instead of right. "Erm Clove, where are we going?" I ask unsurely but she just smirks at me and beckons me to follow. Curiosity gets the better of me and I run after her.

She leads me to a run-down park with and rickety looking slide and four swings. Casually Clove approaches a swing and flops down on it. I stare at her unsurely, wondering what to make of this behaviour. "Well come on sit down." She rolls her eyes and points to the swing next to her.

Cautiously I sit next to her not sure what to make of this situation. I can feel her eyes watching me as I kick off the ground causing the swing to rock slightly. "So why have you brought me here?"

"Tch you ask too many questions." She says before kicking off the ground, swinging higher than me I scowl and copy her and soon we're having a competition to see who can swing the highest. Suddenly Clove throws herself off the swing and flies through the air.

"Are you alright?" I ask worriedly as I stop the swing. Clove laughs standing up and brushing herself off.

"I'm fine." She laughs. "Got you worried did I?" She gives me a grin. I sigh in relief that she's not hurt, I'm not sure why I should be relieved. We're not even friends after all.

"We should get going." I tell her and she shakes her head sitting down and lying back against the grass.

"Why? We've got plenty of time." She says putting her arms behind her head as she looks up at the sky.

"I don't want to be late again; I've already got a detention after school today."

"You're really not like the other kids in the Seam you know, they don't give a fuck about detentions." Clove sighs as she gets up. "Fine you win, we'll go to school." She gives me her trademark smirk and we walk together in the direction of the school.

People stare as we walk into school together I keep my head down and ignore them but when I glance at Clove I see her glaring at them. I meet Gale by the lockers as usual and he grins when he sees me.

"Hey Catnip." He greets, I nod towards him and open my locker, quickly gathering up the books I need. Gale points out a poster on the wall and I look at it with a blank expression. The poster is advertising the rose delivery that happens every year around Valentine 's Day.

I wasn't aware Valentine 's Day was so close but Gale informs me that it's in two days and people can now start buying roses and sending them. Very few people actually bother to send roses, I'm surprised the school is still trying to sell them this year.

"Do you think your secret admirer will get you one?" He asks elbowing playfully I just roll my eyes and start walking in the direction of class.

"I don't know but you should definitely get Madge one." I tease, remembering how he's been spending more and more time around that girl, he stops in his tracks looking flustered.

"I….It's not like that…We're not…." I laugh at his flustered expression and elbow him. He shoves his hands in his pockets and sighs. "Ok you found me out…" He huffs as he starts walking again. "You better not tell her."

"Wouldn't dream of it." I laugh as we walk towards class.

The day passes slowly and I'm glad that I manage to stay out of trouble. I receive another note from C and as usual this fills me with elation. I can't keep the smile off my face as I go about my day. It's not until my last lesson ends that my elation fades when I remember my detention.

Dejectedly I make the short journey to the detention room and upon opening the door find Clove and Johanna sitting in there. Clove sits in the back right corner while Johana sits in the front left, the teacher has obviously sat them like this on purpose.

I hand over my detention slip and am told to write an essay on why I should not skip class. He hands me a stack of paper and I go to sit down two seats away from Clove, the same seat I sat in the last time I had detention. The teacher then gets up and leaves us to our own devices.

Johanna immediately gets up and crosses the room to sit in front of me. "You're here again I see." She says not taking her eyes off me. I simply nod, I'm not sure what to make of Johanna she's in the year above me so I've never really spoken to her until I started getting these detentions. She turns to Clove who is scribbling words onto a piece of paper. "And Clove is here again but that's no surprise, still not going to share what you're writing?"

Clove shoots the older girl a glare before continuing to write. Johanna sighs in exasperation. "Great, I'm stuck with two mutes." She leans against the desk and stare at me. "So why are you here again, Katniss right?"

"I skipped two classes." I mutter and Johanna lets out a laugh.

"Really? I have to say you don't seem like the type." She grins at me in amusement.

"I overslept." I mutter, casually doodling on a bit of paper. I can feel Clove's eyes on me and I risk her glance in her direction to see her watching me. I shift uncomfortably in my seat.

"Hey what's that?" I glance down just as Johanna swipes a bit of paper off the floor. My face pales when I realise what it is. It's the letter from C, it must have fallen out of my pocket.

"Give that back!" I jump at her but she holds it away from her. Carefully she unfolds it and her smirk widens when she reads it.

"Aw you've got a secret admirer." She laughs and looks closer at the note. "Hm let's see. Katniss, I love you so much, you're perfect to me. My dreams consist entirely of you, you are my last thought before I sleep and my first when I awake.

I wish only to see your smiling face. If I could be the one to bring that smile to your face then my day would be perfect. You're the most amazing person to ever walk on this planet. I love you. Forever Yours. C." She laughs again. "So who's this C hmm?"

I hold my hand out, I know that my face is bright red. "Give it back." I snarl causing Johanna to roll her eyes.

"I was going to anyway." She thrusts the note into my hand and I carefully fold it up and put it back in my pocket. Suddenly Johanna's face is inches from mine as she leans on my desk supporting her head in her hands. "So any ideas who your admirer is?" She asks giving me a mischievous grin, I shake my head wishing the note hadn't fallen out of my damn pocket. Then she wouldn't have read it.

"Clove you're in Katniss' year right, any ideas?" She stares at Clove as the smaller girl shrugs not looking up from the piece of paper in front of her.

"How am I supposed to know?" Clove mutters.

"Well since they signed it C then it's a fair bet that their name begins with C." Johanna says to me.

"Yeah, I figured that much out."

We're silent for a few moments before Johanna's eyes slide over to Clove who hasn't moved since this conversation began. "Hey I know whose name begins with C." She smirks and I look at her questioningly. She points to Clove with big grin plastered on her face. "Clove."

Clove looks up and fixes Johanna with the scariest glare I've ever seen on anyone. Johanna doesn't even flinch as she laughs in Clove's face. "Well looks like the case is solved."

"Fuck off Johanna." Clove growls not taking her eyes of the older girl.

"Aw don't want the world to know about your little crush just yet?" Johanna taunts. Clove stands up abruptly her finger curling into fists. I can sense another fight about to break out so reach out a place a hand on Clove's arm to stop her lunging at Johanna.

Clove turns to me her eyes wide. "It's ok, I know it's not you." I give her a small smile trying to hide how it feels like electricity is running up my arm, briefly I wonder if she can feel it to. She stares at me her eyes wide before pulling her arm out of my grasp.

"Whatever." She mutters sitting down and grabbing her pen.

Johanna watches the scene with raises eyebrows. She rolls her eyes when Clove sits down and shakes her head. "Love is weird." She remarks before turning away from us.

Clove is silent for a long time before she turns to me "Why did you do that?" She asks frowning. I stare at her for a second frowning.

"Do what?"

"You know…" Her eyes flick to Johanna. "Stop the fight."

"Oh…" I'm silent for a moment as I contemplate my answer. "I don't know." I admit shrugging. I hadn't wanted her to get in trouble that's for sure but I'm not entirely sure why I'd care. Though things regarding Clove seem to be becoming increasingly confusing.

We sit in awkward silence for a couple of seconds before I decide to move up a seat so I'm sitting next to her. She tenses, her hand covering the page she's writing on. "What do you write in detention anyway?" I ask noticing her actions, she shrugs.

"Just stuff."

"Yesterday, your room was filled with pieces of paper, you said it was stuff you wrote, you write all of that in detentions? I know I'm treading on thin ice asking her these questions, but for some reason I'm feeling brave right now and admittedly I'm curious. I want to know Clove, I always thought she hated me but the ay she's been acting recently I'm finding that harder to believe.

"No…I write a lot in my spare time." She mutters.

"So you write and throw knives?" I find myself grinning, it's an odd combination. She turns to me and I meet her gaze, she stares into my eyes searchingly for a moment before nodding.

"Yep." She shrugs turning back to the piece of paper in front of her and writing down a couple of sentences.

I turn away and spot Johanna watching us closely, a smirk on her face. I roll my eyes and turn back to Clove who's colouring in the corners of the page lazily.

"So what do you write about?" I ask she shoots a glare my way.

"None of your business." She snaps straightening in her seat.

"Ok…" I hold up my hands in surrender and she seems to relax slightly. I sit awkwardly not sure what to say. "You want to walk home together? We could go to that park…" I'm not sure what made me say it but as soon as the words leave my lips I feel my stomach do a backflip and I have to look away to hide the blush that I know is on my cheeks.

Clove turns to me a confused look in her face before her lips twitch into a small smile. "Alright Katniss." I'm suddenly very away of how our desk are only a couple of feet apart and I shift uncomfortably in my seat.

Glancing at the clock I realise the teacher will be back soon to release us from detention and he'll be pissed if he finds us not in the seats we started so I move back into my original seat. Johanna stands and saunters over to the seat at the front. Moments later the man enters glancing between us suspiciously before telling us we can go and exiting the room.

"Alright I guess I'll leave you two lovebirds alone." Johanna says as she stands, sending a smirk my way. I glare at her but she just laughs and leaves he room shaking her head. I glance at Clove to find her glaring at the door.

I nudge her shoulder to get her attention. "Shall we go then?" I ask, she nods pulling her jacket on and grabbing her bag. I do the same and follow her out of the room.

We're silent as we walk to the park but Clove seems to relax once we get there. "So why'd you want to come here?" Clove asks. I shrug, I just wanted to spend time with Clove, I'm not sure why but I enjoy spending time with her, even if she does give me strange unexplainable feelings.

"You were so keen on staying here this morning…"

She laughs at sits down in the swing. "Yeah because it's more fun here than school."

"Oh." I sit down on the swing next to her. We sit silently swinging, until we're as high as the bar. Clove throws herself off the swing and this time I follow her. We land on the ground with a thump and when I open my eyes I realise that I've landed on top of her.

"Ouch." She says sarcastically turning to give me a grin to show she's joking. Looking at her grinning face I roll off of her and can't stop laughing. She watches me silently, the grin still on her face. When I've gained control I realise my face is inches from hers.

I find myself captivated by her dark green eyes and I lean forwards automatically. Our lips almost touch before I realise what I'm doing I scramble away from her. My heart beating rapidly "Sorry." I cough and stand up quickly wanting to put a bit of distance between myself and this girl in order to stop these weird feelings.

Clove rolls over and props herself up on her elbows not looking at me. "Don't worry about it. Didn't hurt at all." She smiles and stands up brushing off the dirt from her jeans. She indicates back to the swings. "Wanna go again?"

I laugh and nod following her over to the swings. We spend a long time on the swings but I don't risk throwing myself off again.

"So what do you do for fun?" I'm startled by the sudden question. Clove watches me as she leans back in the swing, twisting the chains slightly so she's facing me. I shrug.

"I don't do a lot…" I tell her.

"Come on I told you that I write and throw knives. What do you do?"

"I…I go hunting, with Gale…" I tell her, admittedly Gale doesn't come with me as much used to since he got a pert time job but it used to be our main source of food and income.

"You use a gun?" Clove asks and I shake my head.

"A bow."

"Cool." Clove grins at me. "You any good?" I shrug.

"Erm…I'm alright."

"You'll have to show me some time." She looks up at the sky, the sun is setting and she sighs. "We should probably get back." She sighs, I reluctantly agree and Clove stands. "Come on I'll walk you home."

"You don't have to do that." I tell her as I stand up. She just shrugs.

"I know, but I want to." She admits giving me a small smile that for some reason makes my heart rate increase.


	4. Chapter 4

I storm through the halls, glaring at anyone who dares to get in my way. I watch as they scurry away from me. It would be a lie to say that I don't enjoy this power I have over most of the student body. My gaze hardens when I spot Johanna leaning against a locker with her friend Finnick.

She smirks at me as I pass but I force myself to ignore her. Finnick calls me over but I don't spare him a glance. He's not worth my time. No one in the fucking shit hole is; no one except her, Katniss. My insides twist uncomfortably as I think of her.

How can one person be so perfect? I turn the corner and spot her by her locker, she's wearing the leather jacket I gave her and her hair is done up in its usual braid. I watch as she rifles through her locker picking out the books she needs.

I walk into the girls toilets near her locker as the bell rings, waiting a few minutes before exiting the toilets and approaching her locker the hallway is clear and quickly I slip the note I wrote the night before though the vent in her locker.

"How'd your date go?" I freeze for a moment before turning, Johanna is standing by my locker she'd probably been hiding around the corner.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I growl turning away from her, irritation flooding through me. I'd been so careful about not being caught and now Johanna had seen me putting a note into Katniss' locker, what if she tells everyone? I sigh, she'd already guessed that I'm Katniss' secret admirer I suppose I should've known she'd be watching me.

"Oh come on, do you think I'm stupid? You, Katniss, the love notes, going to the park together. It's not hard to put two and two together you know." She smirks, all I can do is glare at her my hands curling into fists, ready to beat the shit out of the infuriating bitch if it comes to it.

"It wasn't a date." I snarl, Johanna just laughs.

"You're so easy to anger." She shakes her head smirking. "Course it wasn't," she says sarcastically, "she likes you back you know, if you can't see that then you're an idiot."

"What's that got to do with you?" I ask angrily, Johanna has been the bane of my existence ever since my first year, she always seemed to be in detention at the same time as me and she never ceased to piss me off. No matter how hard I try I can never intimidate her like I can with everyone else.

"Nothing really, I'm just saying, you should ask her out." Johanna rolls her eyes and I snort. Katniss would never go out with me, not in a million years.

"I'm missing class." I tell her, turning to go.

"Since when have _you _worried about missing class?" Within seconds Johanna is beside me, towering above me with a self-satisfied smirk on her face. "I'm trying to give you some advice here. Ask her out and confess to being her secret admirer."

I'm silent and Johanna sighs shaking her head. "Whatever, I can't do this, you either take my advice or you don't I don't care." With that she storms off.

I sigh wandering back into the toilets. I don't feel like going to class right now. My eyes flick to the large pink poster advertising the roses that the school always sold during Valentine's Day and an idea starts to form in my mind.

Quickly I wander through the halls to the stall that sells the roses. It's currently unmanned as everyone's in class. I'm thankful for this. If someone saw me doing this my reputation would be ruined forever. No one would fear me then. I pull out a piece of paper and write down my message as well as reaching into my pocket and handing over all the money I have on me.

I wait until Lunchtime watching the stall from around the corner to make sure my message is actually received. A large boy approaches the table and sees the message he shrugs and puts the money into the grey tin as he scribbles something down on his clipboard. I smirk it looks like this part of my plan has been a success.

I watch Katniss as she discovers the note I put in her locker. I love the way she smiles when she reads my notes. I especially love it when she blushes. My heart swells to see the happiness on her face and to know that I was the one who made her make that expression. That I am the reason for her happiness.

I keep my face blank, she hasn't noticed me yet. When she does I will have to leave or she'll figure out just who the sender of that note was, she doesn't notice me this time and walks off, I watch her go, how is it possible for someone to be so beautiful.

"You know glaring at her isn't going to make her like you right?" I jump and turn to see Johanna leaning against the lockers next to me a bored expression on her face.

"Fuck off." I mutter.

"Seriously, just trying to help." She says sarcastically. Finnick rounds the corner with his girlfriend, he grins when he sees me.

"So I heard about your date with that Katniss girl."

"It wasn't a date." I snarl at him, for god's sake why is it so difficult for these two to grasp that Katniss and I are not dating.

"Sure it wasn't." He laughs.

I purse my lips and fold my arms across my chest. "What do you two want anyway?" I ask angrily.

"Nothing, we're just watching the show." Johanna laughs before walking off, Finnick gives me an apologetic smile before taking his girlfriend's hand and following Johanna.

I sigh in irritation wishing that Johanna hadn't figured out who wrote that note to Katniss and that she hadn't seen me deliver one earlier. I suppose it can't be helped, at least she doesn't seem to want to use this information against me.

I wander to class, I'm only going because Katniss will be there. I wouldn't even think of attending English with Coin if I wasn't in the same class as Katniss. Coin's an idiot, she can't teach and she especially can't teach English.

Coin's late as usual. I shrug and enter the room, taking my usual seat at the back ignoring how people glance at me fearfully. I realise that my irritation is probably showing on my face and quickly school my expression into more of a neutral one.

Katniss enters the room and head to her seat next to her friend. Our eyes meet for a few seconds and she's the first to look away. I smile slightly when I see the slight pinkness in her cheeks.

Coin enters the class and glances over the students imperiously. "I'm glad to see there's no late comers today." She says looking pointedly at Katniss and then turning her glare to me. I roll my eyes, if she wants to scare me she'll have to try better than that, I'm not that easily intimidated.

"No one but you." I mutter under my breath. I spot Katniss shifting uncomfortably in her seat when Coin looks at her and glare at the teacher, wishing I could wipe the self-satisfied look off her face. I grind my teeth together feeling protective over the girl I love.

The old teacher starts to pace up and down in front of the class as she gives her incredibly boring lecture. I turn my gaze to Katniss watching as she takes a few notes while listening to Coin talk about all the pointless details in Romeo and Juliet.

Eventually we're told that we're going to be paired up in order to discuss the play. Coin pulls out a list and starts pairing people up I sigh, resting my head on the desk wondering what infuriating person I'm going to be forced to interact with for the rest of the lesson.

I look up when my name is called. "Clove, you'll be paired with Katniss." I freeze, Katniss? I'm going to be paired with Katniss? My heart does a backflip and my lips twitch before I can force the blank expression on my face. Perhaps this group activity won't be as much a waste of time as I thought.

Everyone moves around, moving over to their partners, some with a grin others looking extremely pissed off with this arrangement. Katniss approaches me and give me an unsure smile before sitting down next to me.

We're silent for a few minutes while the class around us chats loudly, I stare at my hands, my heart hammering in my chest. Coin hands out sheets of paper that tells us what aspects to discuss. Katniss pulls it closer to her and scans the questions. "Are Romeo and Juliet really in love or is it merely infatuation?" Katniss reads, raising an eyebrow, she sighs and looks up at me. "What do you think?"

I snort, wrinkling my nose. "I'd say it's just infatuation."

"I'd probably agree with you there." She glances back down at the questions. "We have to discuss why." She states sounding slightly bored at the prospect.

"Well they just met each other you can't fall in love that quickly…It takes time…" I look away as my heart speeds up slightly when I remember who I'm talking to. I know I am in love with Katniss but my attraction to her started off as infatuation. When I first saw her in our first year I had the biggest crush on her.

Watching her interact with her friend Gale had made me fall deeper in love with her. She's kind always trying to help out the younger students if she can and now I am actually speaking to her I'm finding I'm falling deeper in love with her.

"Clove? You still there?" I look up when a hand is waved in front of my face and realise I'd phased out, Katniss give me an amused smile, I nod, trying to cover up my embarrassment, I can feel my cheeks heating up and desperately hope I'm not blushing.

"Er so what were we talking about?" I ask and Katniss laughs, the sound is so beautiful I almost get lost in it.

"I was saying that I think I agree, but I don't think they'd need to see each other to fall in love…It'd be just as easy for them to fall in love by writing to each other."

"You mean like writing love notes?" I smirk at her and she blushes.

"Y…Yeah I guess." Her hand reaches into her pocket unconsciously and my smirk widens knowing that she probably has my note in there.

"So does that mean you're in love with your admirer?" I ask teasingly, trying to make myself not look too interested, she blushes deeper and looks down.

"Maybe…" She refuses to look at me and I'm taken aback by how adorable she is, I want nothing more than to kiss her right here. I frown remembering the time we spent together in the park yesterday. When we'd flown off the swing together and she'd landed on top of me, she'd looked like she was going to kiss me. I shake my head to clear it, I mustn't get my hopes up.

She coughs awkwardly and pulls the sheet of paper towards her again scrawling a few sentences down. "So er next question. How could Romeo and Juliet's deaths have been avoided?"

We spend the rest of the lesson discussing the play. Although the topic is incredibly boring, Katniss quickly changes the subject whenever I try to bring something else up, she also refuses to look me in the eye. The lesson ends and Katniss rushes out of the classroom as soon as we're dismissed.

I spot Gale watching her go, he calls after her but she ignores him. He turns to me with a wary frown on his face. I roll my eyes, he thinks I've done something to her. I bite my lip, have I done something to upset her? I scowl, I don't think so. Even so, my gaze turns to the door she disappeared through, I hope she's alright.

I glare at anyone in my way as I make my way through the halls. I look for Katniss by her locker but she's nowhere to be seen. Shrugging I walk the short distance to my next class knowing that it's another class shared with her.

I spot her when I reach the science lab. She's standing near a couple of cheerleaders that are in the same class as us. She refuses to look at me and I shrug, leaning against the wall trying to look unconcerned as I wait for the teacher to arrive and unlock the door.

Gale rounds the corner and smiles when he sees her. He goes over to her and asks her what's wrong but she smiles and tells him she's fine. I watch her trying to figure out if she's lying to her friend but she doesn't seem to be. She seems fine, I frown wondering what caused her to flee from the previous class like she did. At that moment the teacher arrives and unlocks the door, allowing us to file in.


	5. Chapter 5

I sigh, resting my head on the desk trying to pretend to be interested in the nonsense spewing forth from the teacher in front of me. I've never been very good at chemistry, glancing around the class at the glazed expressions I guess that I'm not the only one who has no idea what the teacher is talking about.

I find my mind drifting to the previous day. I'd been paired with Clove in English that day, when Coin had announced that we'd be paired together I'd glanced at her, her expression was strange, I'm not sure quite what is was but it quickly turned to an irritated scowl.

I look down at my notes, staring at them and pretending to write something as I try figure out what Clove could have been thinking. At first she'd sort of looked, nervous, but she couldn't have been, why would she be nervous?

I sigh, during our discussion on Romeo and Juliet I hadn't been able to calm my frantically beating heart. Surely she must have noticed my nervousness, she brought up my secret admirer, she'd seemed really interested in them and I don't understand why she would be.

Maybe Johanna was right and Clove is C. I stifle a snort of laughter and a couple of people glance at me curiously, luckily the teacher doesn't notice. I doodle in the corner of my notebook refusing to look at anyone and they lose interest as they turn away from me. I continue to doodle no longer bothering to pretend I'm listening to the teacher.

I wondering what Clove thinks of me now, she probably thinks I'm insane, when we were dismissed I'd ran out of the classroom like a mad woman. Maybe she doesn't want to talk to me anymore. I'm not sure why the thought of her going back to glaring at me but otherwise ignoring me causes a pang in my chest.

Being around Clove makes me feel so strange and I've found myself thinking about her increasingly lately, I shake my head trying to clear it, things regarding Clove are confusing.

"Katniss Everdeen!" I look up to find my teacher glaring at me as he stands in front of my desk. "Pay attention or would you rather have another detention?" He asks, I shake my head and sit up straighter, forcing myself to pay attention as he returns to his lecture.

Finallythe bell rings and I am able to escape from the tedious and baffling drawl of the teacher. I walk to my locker, rubbing my forehead to ease the headache that had formed in that lesson. My eyes scan the crowd noticing all the couples kissing and exchanging valentine's cards.

I can't help but feel a pang as I try to ignore them. I reach my locker and open it, swallowing the disappointment when I find no note from C in there. Maybe they're off sick or something I try to convince myself. I hope they haven't lost interest in me.

Taking a deep breath I walk the short distance to my next lesson, Maths with Gale, I sit down in my normal seat and wait for the lesson to begin. It's boring as usual although most teachers don't seem to be working us as hard as usual today. People are distracted anyway, thinking about their partners.

A boy knocks on the door and the teacher opens it. He stands there with a huge bouquet of roses and walks in. "Rose delivery." He states and the teacher nods gesturing that he should deliver them. He pulls a card out of his pocket, I'm surprised that he only has one card. Surely that many roses are for multiple people.

"Er,Katniss…"He says, looking around the room unsurely. I stare at him my mouth open slightly. Gales laughs behind me and points to me

"She's right here." He laughs as the boy approaches me and passes me the bouquet and the card, he gives me a smile before swiftly exiting. The room is in an uproar as everyone turns around to get a look at the girl that received so many roses. It's rare for anyone to even receive one. No one bothers with the school rose delivery.

Shakily I pick up the card and read it.

_Katniss _

_I love you. Happy Valentine 's Day._

_C_

I can feel my cheeks burning and know I'm blushing. Gale is laughing beside me I look up to find everyone staring at me, I look down again trying to hide my bright red cheeks. I can't help the happiness that floods through me to know that C has not forgotten about me.

"Alright Alright, eyes front everyone." The teacher calls and the class returns their attention somewhat to her although people still chatter amongst themselves. The teacher sighs knowing she had lost the classes attention entirely for the rest of the class.

Once the bell goes I leave the classroom, carrying the roses with me unable to keep the smile off my face despite the stares I get as I walk through the halls. Gale seems to find this whole thing absolutely hilarious and he chuckles as he walks next to me.

"Those from your secret admirer?" I jump when I hear a voice behind me. I turn to see a smirking Johanna. I nod unsurely and her smirk widens as she crosses the hall towards me. She crosses her arms and she stares at me and I notice a lot of people stop to curiously watch the scene. "You know who it is yet?" She asks

"Er…No…" I shake my head, frowning slightly wondering if she's going to insinuate that it is Clove again. My stomach does a slight backflip at the idea of Clove being my secret admirer and I'm not sure why. Sure she's been acting differently around me lately but she's Clove, the rebel, the one that everyone's afraid of, why would she like me? I blink hard trying to clear my head of thoughts of her.

Johanna rolls her eyes. "Then she's not asked you out yet?" She scoffs. At that moment Finnick appears and grabs her arm.

"Come on Johanna leave it." He says, Johanna pulls her arm out of his grip and scowls at him.

"Just trying to speed things up." Johanna sighs in exasperation, she rolls her eyes as she turns away from me and strides off through the crowd shooting glares at the people who have stopped to watch the scene and they scramble away from her causing her to smirk before she stalks off.

Finnick meets my eyes and smiles "Sorry about that." He spots a girl who smiles at him and beckons him over "I've gotta go, can't keep my girl waiting." He gives me a winning smile and approaches the girl, kissing her passionately before they walk off hand in hand. I watch them go not entirely sure what just happened. I turn to Gale who's watching them go with a confused expression on his face.

"So who were they?" He asks.

"Johanna and Finnick." I tell him. "I met them in detention." He nods, still looking confused for a moment before a grin spreads over his face.

"First Clove and now those two, you really like the rebellious types don't you?" He laughs elbowing me playfully. I roll my eyes and start walking towards my next class.

The day passes slowly and I start to get a bit annoyed with the stares and whispers that seem to follow me throughout the day. I stand by my locker, chucking the books I'm not going to need over the weekend into it. Gale has abandoned me, he'd told me he's meeting one of his other friends after school, I roll my eyes at the thought knowing full well he's going to meet Madge, he's had a thing for her since school started.

"You walking home alone today?" I turn around and spot Clove leaning against her locker, an eyebrow raised. I shrug in reply and she crosses the distance between us her eyes flicking to the bunch of roses in my hand. "Do you want to walk with me then?" She asks not looking at me.

I smile slightly and nod. "Alright." I'm not sure why my hearts is fluttering in my chest but I ignore it as I follow her through the crowds, earning stares from the surrounding students. We walk in silence for a while until Clove speaks.

"Do you maybe want to hang out at my house for a bit?" She asks cautiously still not looking at me. I glance at her, wondering whether or not I should. I'm still not sure if she is just being nice to me as a cruel joke. She keeps her eyes trained forward, refusing to look me in the eye as she keeps her usual scowl on her face.

"Ok, not for too long though, I have to get home." I find myself saying, she grins to herself and I can't help but feel that grinning suits her. Her eyes light up when she smiles and dimples appear on her cheeks. I look away abruptly, my cheeks heating up, she's cute when she smiles and I'm not sure why that makes my heart flutter.

We eventually reach her house. She leads me inside and up to her room. We stare awkwardly at each other for a few minutes before she speaks "You can sit down you know." She smirks at me as I awkwardly is down on her bed while she sits next to me.

"So er... Why did you want me to come here?" I ask and she shrugs

"Just wanted to hang out with you I guess." She picks up her laptop off the floor and flips it open. "Want to watch a movie?" She asks.

I shrug as she types in her password. A word document appears on screen and I stare at it for a few seconds before she closes it abruptly. I turn my gaze to her to see her blushing slightly. "Just something I'm working on." She mutters not looking at me, I smile teasingly.

"So what do you write about in those detentions?" I ask her jokingly, I'm surprised when she turns her gaze to me, her eyes looking into mine searchingly. I find myself unable to look away she shrugs and breaks eyes contact first as she turns back to her laptop.

Quickly she opens up a word document and shoves the laptop over to me without saying a word, I read the document, I'm surprised to find that it's a short story. It's actually pretty good. "Wow." I grin at her nodding towards the laptop, she shrugs not looking at me. "It's good." I tell her and she turns to me unsurely.

"Thanks."

"Is there anything else you write?" I ask playfully she shrugs unsurely as she finds and opens another document.

"Just random stuff, I wrote this a while ago." She mutters. I hesitantly start to read the words on the page.

_I see her across the room. She hasn't noticed me yet and I hope she doesn't just yet. For as soon as she looks this way I'll be forced to avert my gaze. _

_Our eyes meet for a split second before she looks away again. I stare at her for a little bit longer, not wanting to tear my eyes away from such beauty just yet. She glances back at me and I turn away reluctantly. I can feel her eyes on me and my heart is pounding in my chest. _

_I try to hide how all I want to do is run over to her to tell her how I love her and to kiss her perfect lips. I have appearances to keep up, although, I glance back up at her, I suppose losing my reputation would be worth it if I could have her. _

_I glance at her once again to find her looking at me an expression of wariness on her face. I turn away from her, hating that she's looking at me like that. I know most people are afraid of me, I wish she wasn't. _

_If only I could speak to her, then I could show her that I'm not what everyone thinks I am. That she doesn't have to be afraid of me. But what would I say? I don't even know how to start up a conversation with her. _

_So for now I'll just watch her, and hope she notices and decides to talk to me herself. I know that probably won't happen but I can only hope. I love her. _

I'm blushing by the time I finish reading although IL not sure why, I glance at her. "Er…So you like girls?" I ask hesitantly she snorts and rolls her eyes taking the laptop off of me.

"Yeah so?" She shrugs not looking at me a scowl on her face.

"So do I…" I admit giving her a small smile, she turns to me her eyes wide as her lips twitch in what could be a smile although I'm not sure.

A light blush appears on her cheeks and she meets my gaze. "Katniss…I…." She gulps staring at me for a long moment.

"What?" I ask, trying to get her to continue. Her blush deepens and she grips the laptop her knuckles turning white. She turns away from me abruptly.

"Let's watch a movie." She forces out a little too quickly. I agree and she shows me her file of illegally downloaded movies. I hesitantly pick an action movie at random and we sit in silence as we watch it. I can't help but shake the feeling that she was going to say something else.

I stare at her and she watches the screen a determined expression on her face. "So you're in love with someone?" I ask and she jumps turning to me her eyes wide. We stare at each other for a while before her eyes harden into a glare.

"Why?" She growls, her hands curling into fists as she turns away from me. I shrug, I'm not sure what made me ask her that.

"The thing you wrote…" I start but she interrupts me.

"You better not tell anyone about that." She looks down at her lap, glaring at her hands as if they've offended her. "And yeah I guess there's someone…I don't think she likes me though." She mutters, unsurely I move closer to her.

"I bet she does or she will if you tell her…" I say and she looks up at me. After a few minutes I realise just how close I am to her, our faces are only inches apart. I feel a blush spring to my cheeks and I edge away slightly. "You seem like a nice person, despite what everyone thinks." I shrug awkwardly and she smiles, rolling her eyes.

"Whatever." She turns back to the movie and feigning indifference but I can see that her smile linger on her lips. I realise I've been staring at her and turn away abruptly.

We don't talk much for the rest of the movie, I can't stop my eyes wandering over to her and sometimes I find her eyes on me, when I catch her watching me she turns away quickly and stares at the screen as she bites her lip. The movie finishes and I find that I hadn't been paying much attention to it, if someone asked me what it was about I wouldn't have any idea to reply.

Glancing at the time I realise I should be getting back. I tell Clove this and she nods, I wonder if I imagined the slightly sad expression on her face before it's replace by her usual scowl. She shows me to the door and we stand there for a while just staring at each other.

"I could give you a ride if you want." She offers but I shake my head, I really don't want to get on that motorbike again if I can help it. "Then let me walk you." I can only agree as she exits the house with me. "I can carry those if you want." She nods towards the roses in my hand.

"You don't have to."

"But I want to…You've been lugging them around with you all day…I…" She looks away blushing slightly. I shrug and hand them over to her, feeling slightly relieved that I don't have to carry them.

"Alright I guess." I shrug trying to appear calm even though my heart is hammering in my chest. We walk in silence towards my house. When we reach it we stand outside for a while awkwardly. I'm reluctant to leave, for some reason I love spending time with her. I gulp and shake my head.

"I'm going hunting tomorrow, you can come if you want." I blurt out and she smiles.

"Alright Katniss."

I nod not completely sure what the reason is for the elation that's flooding through me. "OK, meet me here at 8?" I turn to enter my house but she stops me.

"Hey...Don't forget these." She holds up the bouquet of roses that she's still holding. I blush and take them off of her, my hand brushes against hers and our eyes meet for a split second before we pull away from each other.

I back away a couple of steps giving her a shy smile. As I turn away I look down at my hand, wondering if she felt the same electricity flow through it that I did. "Katniss…" I turn to see her watching me.

"I…." She pauses and shakes her head before smirking. "I'll see you tomorrow." I nod and turn away after giving her a quick smile. Once I'm inside I find myself watching her walk away out of the window. An ache forming in my chest at the sight of her leaving and I almost call out to her.

"Who's that?" I jump when I hear Prim speak. She stands across the room a big grin on her face, her eyes sparkling knowingly.

"That was Clove." I tell her, feeling my cheeks heat up with another blush. I've been blushing a lot lately, this is starting to get annoying.

"So who's Clove?" She gives me a sly smile and I shrug.

"My friend." I stutter, not looking at her as I enter the living room where my mother sits watching TV.

"Only your friend?" Prim asks, following me. "It didn't look like it from the way you two were looking at each other." I frown, do I like Clove in that way? My stomach does a backflip at the thought of begin her girlfriend, my mind drifts off and I wonder what it would be like to kiss her. I lick my lips nervously.

"Yeah…" I say after a while, not looking at my sister. She points to the roses in my hand.

"She gave you those though."

"She didn't, they came from C…." I mutter.

"C, your secret admirer? C like the letter Clove's name starts with?" She says after a while. I freeze and look up at her. Why the hell is everyone insinuating that my secret admirer is Clove? They can't be Clove, I'm sure she doesn't even like me in that way. I look away, remembering the word document she'd shown me. She's in love with someone and it's not me. I scowl at the aching that fills my chest.

"C is not Clove." I mutter sadly, Prim immediately picks up on the tone of my voice and approaches me.

"But I bet you'd like her to be right?"

I shrug I'm not sure what I feel right now. I know I am pretty much in love with C and yet Clove fills me with all these strange and confusing feelings. I close my eyes in irritation and Clove's face springs into my mind.

I can picture her exactly, her long dark hair, her perfect pale skin with a scattering of freckles across her button nose and her deep, dark green eyes, those perfect lips. My heart rate increases and I force her image from my mind.

I turn to Prim seeing her watching me with a knowing expression. I roll my eyes. "Have you two eaten yet?" I ask trying to change the subject, she nods.

"We saved you some." I enter the kitchen and find a plate of chicken, potatoes and vegetables in the microwave. I turn on the microwave and wait for the food to heat up before taking it out of the microwave and bringing it to the table.

"So where were you?" Prim asks sitting down next to me.

"I was at Clove's, what's with the interrogation?" I ask laughing as I start to eat. Prim just grins at me

"What were you doing?" She asks keeping that grin on her face. I roll my eyes but I'm unable to be irritated with her. I can never be irritated at Prim.

"We watched a movie and she showed me some stuff she wrote. Nothing happened."

Prim just stares at me and I shake my head and decide to just ignore her as I eat my food.


	6. Chapter 6

The alarm clock goes off and I groan, briefly wondering why it's going off at such an early hour on a Saturday. My eyes snap open when I remember that Clove will be here at 8 and I jump out of bed and head to the bathroom to shower, my heart racing at the thought of seeing her again.

I spend longer than usual making sure my hair looks just right. Once I'm ready I walk downstairs with my bow. Prim looks up from her breakfast when I enter. "Are you going hunting?" She asks and I nod in affirmation. She frowns looking confused. "But you never shower before hunting, you always shower afterwards." She states.

I shrug, not wanting to admit that the reason for my changed habits is because of Clove. I usually get muddy when out in the forest so usually shower afterwards. I guess I'll have to shower again when I return.

I hear a knock at the door and rush to the door. I can feel my sister's eyes on me as I open the door and see Clove standing there. Her motorbike is parked outside our house and she has her helmet tucked under her arm as she smirks at me.

"Hi." I say breathlessly.

"Hey." Her smirk widens.

"Er do you want to leave your helmet here?" I ask and she nods as I stand aside to let her enter.

"So you must be Clove." My sister says, looking between us and giving me an amused look. Clove raises an eyebrow at my sister and nods.

"Yeah…"

"This is my sister Prim…" I introduce as I glance at my sister warningly, desperately hoping she doesn't say anything.

"Hi." Clove says nodding towards her unsurely. My sister just smiles at her causing a look of confusion to cross her features.

"So you're going hunting with Katniss?"

"Yeah."

"Ok well it was nice to meet you." She nods to Clove and disappears upstairs, I can hear her giggling slightly as she goes. I watch her go before turning to Clove who's frowning in confusion but a small smile betrays her amusement. We stand there awkwardly for a moment until I take her helmet and leave it on the side.

Once I've picked up my bow, my quiver of arrows and my hunting bag we leave the house. I lead Clove the short distance to the forest. "Want me to carry your bag?" She asks nodding towards the hunting bag that's slung over my shoulder.

"It's not heavy." I tell her, blushing slightly, she shrugs.

"But you've got your arrows…" She trails off and looks away awkwardly. Shrugging I pass her the bag and she takes it slinging it over her shoulder. I have to admit it will be easier hunting if I don't have to carry my bag as well. We walk the rest of the way in silence until we reach my usual hunting grounds.

"So have you ever been hunting before?" I ask and Clove shakes her head. "Ok let's set up some snares first…"

I tell Clove to retrieve a coil of wire from my bag and show her how to set up a snare. She tries to set up her own snare and scowls pursuing her lips when she can't get the knot just right. "Here." I crouch behind her and show her what to do again from her perspective.

Once I've finished I realise how close I am to her and my cheeks heat up. She seems to be frozen to the spot and I awkwardly back away from her. We're silent for a while before she mutters a thanks. I think I can spot a slight pinkness to her cheeks but I'm not sure.

Once the snare line is set up I tell her to follow me quietly as we stalk through the forest searching for game. I keep an arrow nocked in readiness. I can hear some gobbling from behind a bush and I grin.

I beckon Clove forwards before pressing my finger to my lips telling her to be quiet. She nods her eyes directed at the bush, she can hear the wild turkeys as well. As we sneak forwards they come into sight a group of 5 turkeys are pecking at the ground. Silently I raise my bow and without a sound let the arrow fly.

The arrow hits the turkey closest to us and the others scatter in fear. I fire another arrow and hit a second turkey before the others escape. "Not bad." Clove says grinning as we go to collect the kill. I blush and look away.

"Thanks."

Once we've picked up the turkeys we continue walking deeper into the forest until we reach a clearing. "Do you…Do you want me to show you how to use a bow?" I ask hesitantly, offering my precious bow to her, there are few people that I will let touch it let alone use it. Not even Gale is allowed to use it.

"Yeah that'd be great." She gives me a grin that makes my heart leap. I hand her the bow and my quiver. I show her how to stand and she copies me. As I walk through the step of shooting an arrow I move close to her, correcting her grip.

I pause when I realise what I'm doing, my hands are over hers. Our eyes meet and we stare at each other unmoving for what seems like an eternity, I come to my senses and back away. "Er so once you've lined up with your target just let it go." I tell her and she does so. The arrow comes close to the make shift target we've made.

She doesn't miss by much. She tries a few more times and I resist the urge to move close to her again. After a few attempts she manages to hit the target dead centre. "Well done!" I grin at her and she smiles unsurely back.

She practices with the bow for a little longer until we both start to get hungry and decide to stop for lunch. I've brought some bread and cheese and we share it as we sit underneath the trees.

"So how often do you come here?" Clove asks casually as she picks at her food. I shrug in response.

"Most weekends. Sometime Gale comes with me but not so much since he got his part time job."

"You come here alone?" She asks in surprise.

"Yeah. Why?"

She shrugs, not looking at me. "So you're really good with the bow." She complements nodding toward my bow on the ground next to me.

"It's just practice." I shrug blushing slightly. "Besides your good with your knives…"

"Thanks, I'll show you how to throw them sometime if you want."

"That'd be great." I tell her grinning, not sure why my heart is beating so rapidly at the thought of spending more time with her. We finish our food quickly and decide to continue hunting.

We move away from the clearing I allow Clove to try to hunt but she isn't very good at hitting the game. She scowls as she misses and the squirrel she was aiming for disappears up a tree. "If I had a knife I would've got that." She growls causing me to laugh slightly.

"I bet you would have." I laugh, elbowing her playfully as I walk past her. She glares at me for a long moment and I wonder if I've gone too far. I look away shuffling my feet wondering if she's going to go back to her usual self. I'd forgotten who I was talking to. Clove the girl everyone fears.

I feel a light pressure on my arm and look up to see her elbowing me back gently and playful grin on her face. "Yeah I would've." She grins at me unsurely. We continue the hunt but don't manage to catch anything else even when Clove gives the bow back to me. I find I'm too distracted by her presence to concentrate much on stalking the game.

"We've got enough game anyway." I tell her as I step on a twig causing the squirrel to disappear up a tree. We walk back to our snare line and see we've managed to catch a couple of rabbits and another wild turkey in the snares. "Do you want some of this?" I ask her gesturing to the pile of game we've caught.

She shakes her head. "I don't think my parents would be pleased if I brought home some dead animals."

"Ok are you sure, I'm probably going to end up selling most of it."

She shakes her head. "Go ahead and take it, I don't need it."

We're silent as we walk back towards the Seam. It's the late afternoon now and I spot Gale walking back home, dressed in a McDonalds uniform with an irritated expression on his face. He hates his job at McDonalds but he puts up with it since he has to help support his family.

He sees me before Clove and waves giving me a small smile. "Hey Catnip." I raise my hand in greeting and his eyes drift over to Clove when he gets closer to us. "Oh...Hi…" He says awkwardly, Clove nods at him in acknowledgment her usual scowl on her face as she shoves her hands into her pockets.

"How are you?" I ask him hoping to defuse some of the tension behind this meeting. He glances between us, looking at me questioningly.

"I'm fine you?"

"Yeah I'm ok…Went hunting with Clove…" I nod towards Clove unable to keep the grin off my face causing Gale to look even more confused.

"Ok…" He's silent for a moment. "I didn't think you two were friends."

"Well we are." Clove snaps suddenly grabbing my arm as she glares at Gale. I'm not sure why my heart drops at being referred to as Clove's friend. I shake it off and turn my attention back to Gale.

"Right." He says unsurely. "Well I'd better get home then." He walks off and I watch him go before turning back to Clove. She's glaring in the direction Gale just went. She seems irritated as we walk the short distance to my house.

"Do you want to stay for dinner? I offer she raises an eyebrow at me before looking me up and down.

"Yeah ok." She says hesitantly and I lead her into my house. My mother is cutting up vegetables when we enter the kitchen and she looks up her eyes flicking to Clove questioningly.

"This is Clove, Clove this is my mum." I introduce awkwardly as my mother looks between us before smiling.

"Hello there. Are you Katniss' girlfriend?" She asks. I feel myself go bright red and I notice Clove is also blushing profusely.

"No, we're friends, just friends." I say a little too quickly staring down at my feet as if they are suddenly the most interesting thing in the world.

"Hm..." I glance up at my mum to see that she's not entirely convinced. "Well alright then, will you be staying for dinner?"

"Er yeah if that's ok." Clove says, I realise I've never seen Clove look so uncomfortable in a situation.

"Of course it is." My mother says with a smile. After a few more moments of awkward silence I give my mother the game we managed to kill so she can preserve it and lead Clove upstairs to my room.

We enter my room and Clove's eyes immediately flick to the vase of roses over by the window. She glances at me before examining the ceiling. "So er your mum seems nice…" Clove says awkwardly. I shrug not really wanting to talk about my mother. I suppose I haven't fully forgiven her for sinking into a stupor after my father's death.

"What do you want to do until dinner?" I ask unsurely. She shrugs, turning to me.

"I don't know…You got any movies?" She asks, I blush appears on my cheeks as I turn to my DVD collection. They're mostly rom coms, I'm not sure Clove is in to that. She approaches the shelf with my DVD's and smirks slightly. I wait for her to laugh but instead she just reaches up and pulls one off the shelf.

"My sister likes this, she's always saying I should watch it. Never got round to it though." She mutters, not looking at me.

"O…Ok, let's watch it…" I hesitantly take the DVD off of her and put it into the DVD player. We sit on my bed and the movie starts on the battered TV in the corner of my room. I find myself not paying much attention to the movie. I've seen it a thousand times before anyway. I watch Clove who seems to be studiously keeping her eyes facing forward.

The movie gets to my favourite part and I pull my eyes away from Clove. I find myself laughing at the movie and when I stop I see Clove staring at me. "You have a nice laugh…" She says absentmindedly, her eyes widen as she realises what she just said and she tears her eyes away from me, sitting up straighter as she examines the screen.

"Erm…thanks." I say, my heart hammering in my chest. We sit in silence watching the movie, almost touching. I find myself wishing I could reach out a take her hand in mine. The movie ends just as my mother calls us for dinner and I'm glad but slightly disappointed that I have to move away from Clove.

Clove doesn't say much at dinner. My mother keeps looking between us and I glare at her. She better not say anything.

"So Clove are you in the same year as Katniss?" My mother asks, Clove looks up and nods.

"Yeah, we share a couple of classes."

My mum continues to quiz Clove and I glare at her. Clove answers the questions unsurely. I'm glad when dinner is finished. Once I've helped clean up I go back upstairs with Clove.

"Sorry about that." I say giving her an apologetic smile. "My mum can be a bit annoying sometimes." Clove shrugs.

"Don't worry about it. My dad can be the same." She grins at me playfully and we stand thee awkwardly for a few moments. We decide to watch another movie and I find myself exhausted as we sit on my bed watching it.

I stifle a yawn and Clove turns to me. "Tired?" She asks with an expression of amusement on her face. I nod and she laughs slightly. Unexpectedly she wraps her arm around me. She freezes for a moment and I feel her tense up as she starts to pull her arm away.

I lean onto her shoulder, letting her know that I'm ok with this and she relaxes slightly, letting out a nervous laugh. It feels good to be close to her like this, I find myself wondering why. We sit like this for the rest of the movie.

Once the movie is over Clove tells me that she has to leave. I nod sadly and pull away from her.

My sister watches me as I stand by the door for about 5 minutes after she's left. I listen to the motorbike engine being started up and disappearing down the street. A pang of loss filling my chest.

"Have fun spending time with your crush?" Prim teases and I turn to her frowning in irritation.

"She's not my crush!" I tell her but I can feel my face heating up into a blush. Ok, maybe I do have a little crush on Clove. Ever since she started acting differently around me, I've found out she's actually a nice person. Not the brute everyone thinks she is.

"Sure she's not." Prim gives me a knowing smile before disappearing upstairs to her room. I shake my head as I enter the living room to see my mother watching TV.

"Clove seems like a nice girl." My mother states. I glare at her remembering how she'd asked if Clove was my girlfriend. "You should ask her out. Prim has told me you like her."

I feel myself go bright red and I stand up straighter, clenching my hands into fists. "It's not like that, she's just a friend." I tell her before quickly leaving the room trying desperately to hide the blush on my face.

That night I find myself lying awake in bed. My mind is filled with Clove, I sigh and turn over trying to force her from my mind. She's a different person from who I thought she was. I bunch up the covers and hug them tightly, smiling into them. I'm glad she turned out to be more than the thug everyone thinks she is.


	7. Chapter 7

I awake when I hear a knock at my door. Groggily I sit up and glance at the time 10:00 I've slept in longer than usual. The knock sounds again and I drag myself from bed to open my door. Prim stands there holding an envelope. She holds it out to me and I take it hesitantly.

"This just came through the door for you." She says grinning before skipping off into her room. I blink slowly as I look down at the envelope. My name is written on it in familiar scruffy handwriting, gasping I rip it open knowing it's from C before I even read it.

How does C know where I live? I wonder before I start reading the words written on the paper.

_Katniss _

_I can't take this anymore. I want you to know who I am. I want to be your girlfriend if you'll have me. I know you don't know who I am so I ask you to meet me on the outskirts of the forest by the Seam. I will wait there until 12:00. _

_I hope you will come and see me. I love you and I want you to be the happiest girl that has ever lived. If I can bring that happiness to you then I will. I hope to see you soon._

_C _

I stare at the note dumbfounded for a few seconds before dropping it and scrambling to get ready. I'm going to meet C. I'm finally going to find out who C is. Once I'm ready I rush downstairs.

"Where are you going?" Prim asks me as I rush past her. I show her the note and she grins at me. "I'll see you later then."

I run towards the forest my heart pounding in my chest. I force myself to slow down as I approach the forest not wanting to look to frantic when I finally meet C despite my excitement. I glance around, I can't see anyone there.

Unsurely I lean against a tree glancing around the area for anyone. I hear a twig snap and turn my gaze to a large tree. "Katniss…" I freeze when I hear that voice, Clove steps out from behind the tree an unsure smile on her face. "You er…You got my note." She says shuffling awkwardly. All I can do is stare at her with my mouth open slightly.

"Clove….You're...You're C? Johanna and Prim were right?" I manage to say. I think back to my interactions with her over the past few days and find that everything seems to fall into place, the way she always seemed to be hanging around my locker, the writing she showed me, the way she'd been treating me recently. I must have been blind not to guess who the sender of those notes was.

Clove shrugs and looks away her cheeks slightly pink. "Yeah…" She hesitantly takes a couple of steps towards me and I find myself closing the gap between us. My heart is hammering in my chest and I find myself grinning like an idiot.

I can't believe that C is Clove. A week ago this would have been a terrible thing to find out but now I can't think of anyone else I'd rather be with. "So you sent all of those notes and the roses?"

"Yeah." She looks down with an embarrassed smile on her face. "I thought that maybe you'd guess it was me and talk to me…I was too scared to tell you myself, I hoped I could have a reason to talk to you." She shrugs. "I wanted to tell you on Friday but I…I chickened out…"

Suddenly I'm overwhelmed by how absolutely adorable she looks when she's embarrassed. I hug her tightly, she seems surprised as I pull away and she gives me an amused smirk.

"So what now?" I ask giddily and Clove looks me in the eyes searchingly.

"Katniss…Will you….Will you be my girlfriend?" She asks hesitantly.

"Yes." I say immediately and a grin appears on her face, her eyes light up and I can see the joy in them.

"I…Really!" She gasps unable to contain her happiness. I throw myself at her, pressing my lips against hers.

"Yes." I whisper when we part. She has a stunned look on her face so I kiss her again. Loving the feeling of her lips on mine. We part, gasping for breath only for her to pull me back close to her. We kiss under the trees, time seems to stop as our lips are pressed together.

"If you're not doing anything today will you spend the rest of the day with me?" Clove asks. I nod and we walk together into the forest. I take her hand wanting as much contact with her as possible as my heart flutters in my chest.

We stop by a tree and sit down staring into each other's eyes. She's so beautiful, a smile finds its way to my face. "I love you." Clove says softly, "I've waited so long to actually say that out loud to you." She grins and looks down.

I lean in and kiss her. "I… I think I love you too." I admit as I stare into her eyes, happiness swirling through me, she kisses me passionately; I wrap my arms around her, entangling my finger in her hair as I lean into the kiss.

We walk through the Seam and into the town centre. People stare as we walk together holding hands. I smile when I realise my fingers fit perfectly between hers. Clove seems to be uncomfortable with the staring and glares at anyone who looks at us for too long. This causes many people to look away quickly and peoples soon get the hint and pointedly ignore us.

We walk outside until it starts raining and we have to run for shelter. The rain teams down and when we finally reach a covered area we are soaked to the bone. I look up at Clove and can't help but laugh. She smirks at me and pulls me close to her kissing me on the lips.

We part and rest our foreheads against each other, staring into each other's eyes. "You're beautiful even when you're soaked." She says smirking before kissing me again.

We end up walking to her house to take shelter. Her dad spots us as we enter and raises an eyebrow at our entwined hands but says nothing. Clove leads me to her room and offers me a change of clothes which I accept seeing as I'm absolutely soaked.

I'm glad Clove tends to wear baggy clothes since she's smaller than me. The clothes just about fit and I put my wet clothes over the radiator to dry. Clove smirks at me when I step out of the bathroom in her clothes.

"What?" I ask, Clove's smirk widens and she warps her arms around me.

"I like that you're wearing my clothes." She shrugs before kissing me.

We lie together on Clove's bed for a while, Clove wraps her arms around me, giving me a small smile as I snuggle closer to her, trying to warm up after being out in the cold rain. A knock sounds at the door and Clove reluctantly pulls away from me to open her door.

Her dad stands there he glances at me. "Making dinner, do you and your…Girlfriend want some?" He asks. Clove glances over her shoulder at me.

"Are you hungry?" She asks. I nod slowly, realising I am a little bit hungry. She tells her dad that we will eat and he walks off.

"How does your dad already know about us?" I ask jokily. Clove shrugs in response as she sits down on the bed, taking my hand absentmindedly.

"He's good a noticing that sort of thing." She's silent for a moment before looking up at me a small smile on her face. "Also I may have told him about the girl I've been in love with for ages." She blushes and looks away from me. I grin and lean towards her, capturing her lips with mine.

"And what exactly did you tell him?" I ask playfully.

"Just that I love you…" She shrugs.

We're called downstairs and I follow my girlfriend into the kitchen where her dad is putting pasta into bowls. We sit down at a table in the corner and start eating in silence.

"So…You're Katniss right…" Clove's dad says, not taking his eyes off me. I nod, suddenly feeling uncomfortable having his eyes on me. I notice Clove shooting glares his way and he rolls his eyes, leaning back in the chair.

He starts quizzing me on my plans for after school and I try to answer, honestly I hadn't really thought about it. "Come on Katniss, The rains stopped let's go to the park." Clove says when we've finished the pasta, giving me an excuse to end this awkward conversation.

I let Clove lead me out of the house and we walk to the park stopping only when we notice a man selling ice-cream from a cart. He looks disgruntled as he shelters under the umbrella glancing around the empty street.

"Want to get some ice cream?" Clove asks, a grin on her face. I laugh, I've never had ice cream in this weather before..

"I don't have any money."

"It's ok I'll get it." She shrugs. I agree and we buy an ice cream each and walk the rest of the way to the park eating the ice cream.

Once we reach the park we sit down on the swings and watch as a few children run around, their parents watching them closely. I notice a few parents send glares out way, probably hating that teenagers would dare leave their houses and go to a public place.

Clove glares back and turns to me, a sly smile on her face when she notices my irritation with the parents. "Want to really piss them off?" She asks, twisting the chains of the swing so she's facing me and leaning closer I can't help but laugh slightly at the implication of what she's saying as I turn my own swing so I'm face to face with her. I close the distance and kiss her.

I can taste the chocolate ice cream on her lips and smile into the kiss as I reach up and entangle my fingers in her hair. We part and I grin feeling slightly dizzy as I stare into her beautiful eyes. Glancing around the park I see the adults glaring at us disapprovingly as their children continue to play oblivious to our presence.

A little boy runs up to us and climbs onto the swing next to me only for his mother to call him away. I can hear Clove snickering next to me as she watches the boy dejectedly follow his mum, looking confused as to why he is being pulled away from the park.

"I think we scared them off." I state watching them go. Clove shrugs, leaning back in the swing.

"People are weird like that I guess." She says, I nod in agreement.

It starts to get dark and we begin to walk back towards Clove's house to get my now dry clothes. "Let me give you a ride home." Clove says nodding toward her garage where I know her motorbike is kept. "I'll go slow." She promises. I hesitate. The motorbike terrifies me but if she goes slow then maybe I'll be able to deal with it.

I take a deep breath. "Promise to go slow?" She smirks at me nodding as she hands me a helmet. I zip up the leather jacket that Clove gave me a few days ago and pull the helmet onto my head as Clove brings the motorbike out of the garage.

Once we're both seated on the bike she glances over her shoulder at me. "You alright?" She asks, I nod even though I'm already clinging to her. "Ok ready to go?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." I gulp as the bike starts moving.

She doesn't go as fast as before and I find myself actually enjoying the ride, I'm able to keep my eyes open and look at our surroundings this time. We get caught at a couple of traffic lights but all too soon we're outside my house and I reluctantly release my hold on her. "How was that?" Clove asks removing her helmet and smirking at me.

"That was actually quite fun."

"I knew I could convert you." She says triumphantly. "How about I give you a ride to school tomorrow?" She grins her eyes sparkling with amusement. I can't help but laugh as I lean in to kiss her.

"Alright."

"So I'll meet you here at 8:00?" She asks.

"Ok…" I nod unable to keep the grin off my face. I offer her the helmet but she shakes her head.

"Nah, keep it."

We kiss for a long time before she reluctantly pulls away from me. "I should get going." She says sadly. She pulls me in for one last kiss seeing the look of disappointment on my face. "I'll see you tomorrow. I love you Katniss." She whispers, her eyes soft.

"I love you too Clove." I say and a grin spreads across her face. My heart skips a beat to see her looking so happy and I kiss her one last time before backing away and letting her put her helmet on. I watch as the motorbike speeds off before entering my house.

Prim sits on the sofa, a huge grin on her face. I notice the curtain out of place on one side and know she watched my interaction with Clove. "So C is Clove…Knew it." She laughs, I just roll my eyes.

"Yes C is Clove…We're…We're going out now." I grin at the thought. Clove is my girlfriend, Clove loves me.

"I'm so happy for you." I jump when I hear my mother's voice. She stands in the doorway and smiles at me. "Really Katniss, Clove seems like a lovely girl."

I blush, shrugging in response, telling them I have to go do some homework as an excuse to exit the room. I can't keep the grin off my face as I head to my room. I've never been happier.


	8. Chapter 8

I wake up the next day, it takes me a few minutes for my befuddled brain to remember the events of the previous day but when I do I grin. Jumping out of bed I scramble to get ready. Knowing Clove will be here to pick me up in an hour.

Clove arrives at 8:00 exactly and I jump up, grabbing my helmet as I rush towards the door to answer it. Clove grins at me, her helmet tucked under her arm. "Hey." She leans in and places a quick kiss on my lips in greeting.

"Hey." I grin, wrapping my arms around her and kissing her again, loving the feel of her lips on mine.

"Ready to go?" She asks, smirking at me as she brushes a stray strand of hair out of my face.

I nod and follow her out the house after shouting a goodbye to my mother and sister over my shoulder. Clove gets onto her motorbike and pulls her helmet on. I scramble on behind her once I've put my own helmet on my head. I wrap my arms around her waist and we zoom off.

Clove turns into the car park of Panem High School. Once the bike is parked I clamber off, I can feel the eyes of every surrounding student on us. Clove removes her helmet and sends a glare their way causing them to turn away abruptly and pretend that they hadn't been watching us.

When Clove turns to me her eyes soften and she smiles as she reaches for my hand. We entwine our fingers together as I allow her to lead me towards the school building, my helmet tucked under my free arm.

Whispers follow us as we enter school, I look down suddenly feeling uncomfortable with the attention of my fellow students, I catch Clove scowling in irritation as she releases my hand and wraps her arm around my shoulders, glaring at anyone who dares stare at us too long.

I can't help but smile at the gesture. Taking a deep breath I hold my head up a little higher. I don't need to be ashamed of my girlfriend. Let them say what they want I decide. We pause for a moment and I decide to take this moment to place a kiss on her cheek causing the whispers to increase as the crowds part to let us though. Clove smirks at me, amusement sparkling in her eyes as we walk together.

We approach my locker and I see Gale standing there. He grins when he spots me but it soon disappears when he sees Clove walking with her arm around me. "Er…Hey Catnip…Hey…Clove…" He greets unsurely, his eyes glancing between me and my girlfriend questioningly.

"I need to put this in my locker." Clove says to me, indicating to her helmet. I nod and she kisses me quickly on the cheek. "I'll see you in a minute." She murmurs holding me close for a minute her lips inches for mine as my heart flutters in my chest. She gives Gale smirk at his befuddled expression and slowly roes her arm from around me, disappearing in the direction of her locker.

Gale stares at me with a mixture of horror and confusion. "What was that about?" He asks as I approach my locker and put in the combination. I shrug, unable to keep the smile off my face when I turn to him.

"I found out who C is." I state, he frowns shaking his head and glancing over to where Clove is shoving he helmet into her locker.

"Clove? But she hates you…"

I shake my head. "No she doesn't…She never hated me, that was just a misunderstanding…She loves me." A grin spreads across my face, Clove loves me and I love her. I look up at Gale who looks completely confused.

"Right…" He doesn't sound convinced as he raises his eyebrows in disbelief.

"She does." I playfully elbow him and he laughs shaking his head and sighing as he elbows me back.

"Alright if you say so, as long as you two are happy I guess." He gives me a playful grin just as Clove returns from her locker. Gale walks over to her and she glares at him, her brow furrowing in confusion, he holds his hand out to her.

"Alright Clove, if your Katniss' girlfriend then I guess we should be friends." He gives her a slightly forced but friendly smile and she looks at his hand in confusion her eyes flicking to me for the briefest of moments before she grasps his hand, shaking it slightly.

"Whatever Hawthorne." She mutters, releasing his hand and sidling up to me.

"Er you can call me Gale you know…" His smile falters and she rolls her eyes.

"Ok Gale then…"

Gale nods and one of his friends taps him on his shoulder saying something about them having to get to class. He shoots a goodbye over his shoulder as he runs after his friend. I watch them go for a moment before turning to Clove.

"I guess I should get to class too." I tell her, she pulls me closer to her. I'm conscious of everyone's eyes on us as she kisses me.

"I'll see you at break then." She smirks and I nod before reluctantly pulling away from her. She holds onto my hand and kisses my cheek. She smirks at me as she releases my hand.

The lessons pass incredibly slowly. I am incredibly aware of people's eyes on me as they stare. Word spreads around school quickly and soon every single student knows of my relationship with Clove. I sigh when yet another student walks up to me and asks if it's true.

"Yeah." I stay in exasperation, rolling my eyes as this guy that I've never spoken to before turns to his friends and shouts out that it's true. The group of boys cheer and grin at each other.

"Hey can we watch?" One asks and I glare at him, I purse my lips at the question, he laughs turning to his friends as they shriek with laughter, patting each other on the back and elbowing each other. I sigh rolling my eyes in irritation as I turn away from them deciding to ignore them.

The teacher enters asking everyone to calm down and take their seats. I sigh in relief as the boys quieten down. Turning to the teacher I attempt to pay attention to the lesson.

Eventually the morning lessons end and I leave the classroom, heading straight to my locker, hoping to find Clove there, I'm not disappointed as I see her waiting for me, leaning against my locker. "Hey Kat." Clove grins when she sees me causing my heart to skip a beat.

"Hey." I say breathlessly as I approach her, I wrap my arm around her waist pulling her towards me before kissing her only pulling away when I hear whooping. I turn to see a group of footballers. Clove scowls at them and they laugh.

"Something funny?" Clove growls at them, her hands curling into fists at her side. Most of the boys notice the threat and their grins fade as they back away but one remains smirking at Clove. I recognise him as Cato, he starts to stride over to us.

"Come back Cato." His friend tries to pull him away out he shrugs him off.

"What's it to you dyke?" He asks, standing up straighter once he's in front of Clove showing off his superior size. I blink slowly wondering what the hell Cato is doing, Cato is not known for his brains but everyone knows not to mess with Clove.

"What did you call me?" Clove growls, her eyes darkens and I know there's going to be a fight if I don't do anything about it. I don't want Clove to get in trouble because of this. I reach for her and pull her away slightly.

"Come on, it's not worth it." I mutter, trying to diffuse the situation. Cato laughs, turning around to his friends who are watching the scene with wide eyes, he holds up his arms slightly, trying to get them to laugh along but they watch silently. He shakes his head and turns back to us.

"Come on." I pull on Clove's arm again and I finally get her to turn to me. The anger in her eyes fades and with a final glance at Cato she takes a few steps away with me.

"That's it run off with your whore of a girlfriend." He shouts, suddenly Clove has torn herself away from me and has flown herself at Cato, she punches him in the stomach and he doubles over, winded. "Wh…What the fuck?" He pants, looking up at Clove. "You crazy fucking bitch."

Clove raises her fist and it connects with his nose. He yelps as blood streams down his face but Clove isn't done yet, she continues to punch him. He raises his fists and scrambles to fight back. He lands a few punches on Clove but she barely winces, even when one of his punches grazes her forehead.

I watch the fight, my eyes wide, I wince when Cato hits Clove around the head and take a step forward when she staggers slightly but she recovers quickly and trips Cato up. I bite my lip worriedly as Cato flings himself off the ground toward Clove pushing her down.

They wrestle on the floor and it looks like Cato, with his larger size is going to win, I almost step in to pull him off her but Clove manages to knee him between the legs and he yelps as she pushes him off. She stands and proceeds to kick him in the stomach.

"Say that shit again and you're dead Cato." Clove snarls, giving him a final kick in the abdomen. Cato whines on the floor and Clove rolls her eyes at him. He won't mess with her again, everyone in school has witnessed at least one Clove fight. No one messes with her once they've been on the receiving end of her fists.

"Come on Clove, let's go." I say when Cato just continues to whine on the floor in defeat. Clove looks at me and nods, shooting a glare at the crowd that had gathered during the fight, they shrink back, no one wanting to confront an already angry Clove.

We walk in silence, I can feel the eyes of the crowd follow us as we go. Clove is tense beside me and I decide to give her a moment to calm down.

"You ok?" I ask quietly when I think she's calmed down a bit. She glances at me and I notice that the graze on her forehead is bleeding slightly and I bite my lip worriedly.

"I'm fine." She says putting her arm around me. We exit the school building and walk out into the courtyard, there are not many people out here as it's quite cold out and I'm glad to get away from the staring eyes.

"Are you sure?" I ask biting my lip. "You're bleeding." She shakes her head smirking slightly.

"I'm fine Katniss, nothing I can't handle." She kisses my cheek. Once we've made it to the benches on the other side on the courtyard we sit down. I cuddle closer to Clove and she wraps her arms around me, kissing the top of my head as we sit together watching the people across the courtyard.

Gale exits the building in front of us and waves when he spots us. Jogging over he gives us a small smile. "Hey Katniss, I've been looking all over for you. Someone beat the shit out of Cato!"

I snort with laughter, glancing at Clove who just smirks at Gale in response. Gales frowns taking in her grazed forehead. "Wait…Did you?" He gapes at Clove and she rolls her eyes, the smirk still on her face.

"Does it matter?" She asks nonchalantly. Gales just gapes at her before he bursts out laughing.

"What did he do to you?" He laughs, sitting down on the bench next to us. Clove doesn't reply, she reaches for my hand and entwines her finger with mine. "Come on, you can tell me." He nudges Clove earning a glare, she sighs.

"He insulted Katniss." She mutters, I pull away from her so I can look her in the eyes.

"You only attacked him because he called me a whore?" I ask in disbelief a blush forming on my cheeks. Clove nods unsurely and I press my lips against hers, throwing my arms around her. "You didn't have to do that." I whisper pulling away slightly. She smiles slightly and kisses me again.

"I couldn't just walk away after he said that." She tells me, she glances at Gale unsurely, who's playing a game on his phone, giving us some privacy.

The bell rings and we get up. It's English with Coin and we reluctantly head towards the English classroom. She's late as usual and the class lounge in their seats chatting amongst themselves as they wait for her to arrive.

Coin finally arrives and she starts the lesson. I sigh, wishing I could move next to Clove, it might make this lesson more interesting. Coin turns to write something on the board and I risk a glance over my shoulder at Clove.

She's been watching me. She smirks at me and I blush turning back to the front just in time for Coin to turn her attention back to the class.

Finally the bell ends and we file out of the classroom. I take Clove's hand and we walk together with Gale to the cafeteria. As we the corner I spot Johanna standing there leaning against the lockers.

"So I hear you two are together now." She says, smirking at us in a self-satisfied way. Clove scowls at her.

"Yeah so." She snaps, Johanna just laughs.

"Took you long enough." She says pushing away from the locker and walking over to us. "I also heard you beat up the footballer Cato." She nods towards Clove, a huge smirk on her face as Clove shrugs.

"I guess so." She mutters.

"Never did like that bastard." She laughs, Cloe shrugs again and starts walking, I follow her but Johanna walks after us. "Hey, I'm gonna hang out with you guys." She states as she attaches herself to our group and comes with us to lunch.

I glare at her as she sits next to Clove disliking how she leans close to her. "So Katniss." Johanna smirks at me as she meets my glare, I purse my lips in irritation. "How many days have have you and Clove been dating?"

"Since yesterday." I take Clove's hand possessively. Johanna just raises an eyebrow.

"Well at least she asked you out eventually." She smirks at me and puts her arm around Clove. "See told you she liked you back." She laughs, Clove glares at Johanna but where a normal person would get the hint and back off Johanna just laughs harder.

She extracts her arm and stands up. "Well I'll see you two lovebirds later." She winks at me and walks off. I glare at her as she leaves.

"What the hell?" I exclaim when she's out of earshot. Clove turn to me and shrugs.

"Johanna's weird." She says.

"Hmm." I scowl in the direction Johanna went.

"What's wrong?" Clove asks, wrapping an arm around me. I tense up and stare at my lap. "What's wrong?" She asks again, kissing my cheek.

"It's nothing." I tell her turning my scowl to my hands.

"Ok…If you're sure?" She removes her arm from around me and continues eating her lunch. I spot her glancing at me, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion and I almost wrap my arms around her a kiss her.

I'm not angry with her, I tell myself. I just didn't like how Johanna was acting around my girlfriend. If I say anything I'll probably look like a clingy bitch. I sigh and pick at my food. I can feel Gale's eyes on me and wonder what he makes of this situation.

I don't talk to Clove much for the rest of the day. I can see that she's confused and a little worried, I can't help but feel a pang of guilt at this. The end of the day comes quickly and I stand with Gale as I wait for Clove to return from the toilet.

"What's up Catnip?" He asks once Clove is out of sight. I just shrug in response not looking at him. "Is this about that Johanna girl?" He guesses easily. I sigh and look away not wanting to talk about this. I look at him when I feel him elbowing me.

Johanna rounds the corner and I fix her with the scariest glare I can. She smirks at me as she strides over to where I'm standing. "Where's your girlfriend?" She asks playfully and I purse my lips, straightening as I flexing my fingers angrily, wanting desperately to punch the bitch.

"She'll be back soon." I force out not taking my eyes off Johanna. I briefly wonder what the fuck I'm doing. No one messes with Clove except Johanna and therefore I really shouldn't be messing with Johanna if I know what's good for me. I scowl, but Johanna shouldn't have acted like that around my girlfriend, Clove is mine.

Clove exits the toilets and walks over to us and I walk over to her putting my arm around her protectively. I glare at Johanna challengingly, daring her to try anything. Johanna just smirks as she leans against the lockers.

"What's up with you today hmm?" She asks. Clove turns to me, looking between me and Johanna as her eyes widen.

"Fuck off Johanna." She says before capturing my lips in hers. I gasp as she kisses me before kissing her back. I forget about Johanna and everything else in that moment as happiness fills me. We part gasping for air and I grin as I stare into Clove's beautiful, dark eyes. She grins back and my heart skips a beat.

I can hear snickering and turn to Johanna my eyes hardening into a glare. She shakes her head in amusement "Well, my work is done here." With that she turns and disappears off through the crowd.

"What did she mean by that?" I ask in confusing, Clove shrugs giving me a grin.

"Johanna likes to mess with people." She tells me, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

Gale makes an excuse and wanders off to meet Madge leaving me standing there alone with Clove. "You ready to go?" She asks, I nod and follow Clove towards the car park. "Do you want to go to the park for a bit?" She asks as we clamber onto her motorbike.

"Alright." I agree and she speeds off towards the park. When we arrive she parks her motorbike to the side of the road in view of the swings. We go to sit on the swings, sitting silently for a while. Clove leans back in the swing, kicking off the ground slightly making it swing very slightly as a thoughtful expression crosses her features.

"You were upset about Johanna weren't you." She states after a while.

I glance at her my eyes wide before nodding. "Yeah…" We're silent as the wind blows the swings causing a eerie creaking sound the resound through the park. "I didn't like how she was acting….She likes you." I find myself snarling at the thought and she just shakes my head.

"I don't think she does, she was just trying to piss you off."

"Why would she want to?" I ask in irritation, Clove rolls her eyes playfully.

"That's just what Johanna doe, she pisses people off just to see what they'll do. You should have seen how she acted around Finnick when he started dating Annie. Detentions were a nightmare."

She sees my unconvinced expression and leans towards me kissing my cheek and I can't help but smile. "Besides even if she did like me like that she has no chance. You're the only girl for me."

I blush as elation floods through me. "I love you so much." I tell her looking deep into her eyes. She smirks her eyes glowing with happiness.

"I love you too."

* * *

_AN: Woo Just finished writing this. Hope you guys like it._


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